Literature Review on Immigrants in Canada and their Economic and General Well Being

Written by Dr. David Ma SB(MIT), MSc(LBS), MA(Tufts), PhD(UNC)

Overall Statistics

The average poverty rate of immigrants is significantly higher than that of domestically born Canadians.¹ Among the immigrants, those who suffer from an even higher poverty rate are the visible minorities,² those who are single,³ and those who live in the metros (i.e., Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver).⁴ The evidence supports the claim that Project Emmanuel targets those immigrants who are the most economically disadvantaged.

It is further found that 20% of all immigrants suffer from “chronic poverty”, defined as being in poverty at least four of the first five years in Canada. This compares to only 8% chronic poverty among Canadian-born new entrants to the labour market.⁵

of all immigrants suffer from “chronic poverty”, defined as being in poverty at least four of the first five years in Canada⁵

In addition, from the 1990s onwards,

“there are reasons to believe that newer cohorts of immigrants face much greater obstacles to economic integration than in the past.”⁶

Among those evidence cited is “the persistent credential and other employment qualification barriers, such as the so-called “lack of Canadian experience” faced by new arrivals.” ⁷ This suggests that a program that offers both acculturation experience (including volunteer work) and part-time work experience help immigrants overcome economic obstacles.

The timing of entering poverty is also noteworthy regarding the immigration experience. In a 2008 study, it is found that “about 65% of entering immigrants enter poverty at some time during the first ten years in Canada, and of these, two thirds do so during the first year.”⁸

Once an immigrant survives the first year, the chance of entering poverty in the second year drops to 10%, and then still lower thereon.⁹ This shows that to help an immigrant right at the beginning without further delay is crucial to ensuring a better long-term future of economic well-being.

of entering immigrants enter poverty at some time during the first ten years in Canada⁸

Qualitative Analysis

Beyond broad quantitative statistics, Smith and Ley (2008) provides a good focus group analysis of the poverty issue associated with the immigrants in Toronto and Vancouver. Here are some highlights of its findings:

Canada is often identified as one of the more successful examples of immigrant integration, but its “record on economic integration is less encouraging.”¹⁰

There is a pervasive lack of understanding of the daily operations of the Canadian society and how to make it work for the immigrants. This is a “recurring frustration” of many immigrants. “They are unsure how to navigate life in Canada, and how to cope with residence in a high-poverty area.”¹¹ One respondent adds, “As a newcomer I do not know this system at all… other kinds of Canadians are more aware about their rights and the services that the government can give to real Canadians … we are not aware of them at all.”¹²

Oftentimes, the immigrants’ disadvantage in the job market “derives not from the lack of skills or credentials, but from discrimination, an absence of ‘Canadian experience’, or language and accent barriers.”¹³ One respondent says, “when I look for a job, they always ask me if I have any Canadian experience. From which city? From which company? I have to tell them I have none.”¹⁴ The authors also comment that “the points system as skilled workers hold little to no value in the reality of the working world,” adding to the grievance on the part of the
immigrants.¹⁵

“As a newcomer I do not know this system at all… other kinds of Canadians are more aware about their rights and the services that the government can give to real Canadians … we are not aware of them at all.”¹²

The Problem of Ethnic Enclaves

Unlike the U.S. where the poor tend to concentrate in deeply disadvantaged districts, economic marginalization in Canada is more geographically dispersed. Immigrants in general scatter among various suburban districts, but they cluster ethnically, thus forming ethnic enclaves. Some researchers propose that ethnic enclaves provide supportive social capital, i.e., a neighborhood of people with the same ethnicity, culture, and language would help out and support each other such, translating into a better economic outcome. However, Smith and Ley refer to a multitude of empirical studies in both North America and Europe that point to the contrary.

Although the ethnic enclaves do form social capital, they also engender “an independent effect in impeding the upward mobility of the immigrant [community as a whole]”, resulting in an “immigrant underclass.”¹⁶ Smith and Ley elaborate that “Although they enjoy the support and familiarity of the social networks and infrastructure of ethnic enclaves, respondents also stress the disadvantage of a larger national culture,” quoting a respondent saying that “There are different immigrant communities and people [and] they tend to stick to each other. So they kind of live in isolation. Like you see the Chinese community…”¹⁷

What’s relevant to Project Emmanuel is that this is not just a cultural issue, but for many immigrants this is also a poverty issue.

Moreover, if we turn our focus from the economic aspect to more general definitions of well-being, the effect of cultural enclaves upon immigrants may be further explored. Berry and Hou (2016) perform a study on 7,000 immigrants in Canada, trying to find the relation between the immigrant’s sense of belonging to the source country / Canada and the immigrant’s life satisfaction / self-perceived mental health. The results show that immigrants with a highest sense of belonging to Canada tend to score the highest in the “life satisfaction” category, regardless of their sense of belonging to their source countries, and vice versa. For the “self-perceived mental health” category, those immigrants with the highest sense of belonging to both Canada and their source countries also score the highest, but so do those with the highest sense of belonging to their source countries but not to Canada. All in all, to ensure that the immigrant scores well in both the “life satisfaction” and the “self-perceived mental health” categories, the so-called “integration strategy”, i.e., a high sense of belonging to both Canada and their source country, is the best option.¹⁸

This is also an area to which Project Emmanuel’s program content may contribute.

¹ Shields et al, 98. Specifically, in 2006 it is 22% vs. 13.8%. Poverty rate is measured in Low (before tax) Income Cut-Offs.

² Shields et al, 102. The Chinese are included within visible minorities, but Ukrainians aren’t. In Toronto, the Chinese immigrants are ranked 4th worst at 27%, among 9 ethnic visible minority groups in 2006, after the Koreans, the Arabs, and the Japanese. (Sheilds et al, 105).

³ Shields et al, 101.

⁴ Shields et al, 103. These are called the census metropolitan areas.

⁵ Picot, Hou, and Coulombe, 415.

⁶ Shields et al, 98. The term “economic integration” refers to the closing of the income gap between immigrants and domestically born Canadians with similar skill levels.

⁷ Shields et al, 99.

⁸ Picot, Hou, and Coulombe, 415.

⁹ Picot, Hou, and Coulombe, 415.

¹⁰ Smith and Ley, 687.

¹¹ Smith and Ley, 696.

¹² Smith and Ley, 696.

¹³ Smith and Ley, 697.

¹⁴ Smith and Ley, 697.

¹⁵ Smith and Ley, 697.

¹⁶ Smith and Ley, 702.

¹⁷ Smith and Ley, 702.

¹⁷ Barry and Hou, 254.