|
Description
ABSTRACT/RESUME
Since the late 1960s, Canada has been reforming its earlier discriminatory immigration policies preventing entry of individuals from "undesirable" countries and/or nationalities. This resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of immigrants from non-European countries. Despite more democratic immigration policies, new arrivals still tended to experience significant barriers in terms of labour market integration. Data from the 2001 census was used in this paper to evaluate the earnings of thirty-one ethno-racial groups in Canada. Particular attention was paid to the differences between immigrants and native-born, Whites and visible minorities. I also examined the extent to which income return on education differed between ethno-racial groups and across time. Analyses show that earnings gaps were substantially greater among immigrants than among the native-born. Immigrants, particularly visible minority immigrants, earned substantially less than their British counter-parts. They also experienced a lower rate of return on educational investments. Moreover, there is evidence that the earnings of visible minority immigrants have deteriorated. Among native-born Canadians, visible minorities as a group earned slightly less than non-visible minorities. However, many of the ethno-racial earnings gaps are statistically insignificant. Similarly, native-born Europeans differed little from the charter groups and from each other. Theoretical and policy implications of these findings are discussed.
Depuis les annees 1960, le Canada a effectue une reforme au niveau de ses politiques d'immigration discriminatoires qui empechaient l'entree d'individus de nationalites " indesirables " ou provenant de pays qualifies pareillement. Par consequent, le Canada a ete temoin d'une augmentation du nombre d'immigrants venant de pays non-europeens. Malgre les politiques d'immigration dites plus democratiques, les nouveaux venus rencontrent toujours des obstacles importants qui les empechent d'integrer efficacement le marche du travail. Cet article se base sur des donnees tirees du recensement de 2001 afin d'evaluer les revenus de 31 groupes ethnoraciaux au Canada, en se penchant particulierement sur les differences entre les immigrants et les individus nes au Canada, entre les blancs et les minorites visibles. De plus, il compare la difference entre les groupes ethnoracianx au niveau des avantages economiques tires de l'investissement fait en education. L'analyse demontre que les differences sont beaucoup plus importantes chez les immigrants que chez les natifs. Parmi les immigrants, les Europeens, notamment ceux de minorites visibles, gagnent substantiellement moins que leurs pairs britanniques. De plus, l'investissement qu'ils font au niveau de leur education mene a un retour monetaire moindre. Les donnees indiquent qu'il y aurait une diminution des revenus des immigrants de minorites visibles. Parmi les individus nes au Canada, les minorites visibles gagnent un peu moins que les individus issus de minorites non-visibles. Toutefois, les differences de revenus ne sont pas statistiquement significatives. De meme, il existe peu de difference entre les individus nes en Europe et la majorite culturelle ou meme entre eux. La conclusion de l'article discute des consequences theoriques ainsi que politiques de ces resultats.
INTRODUCTION
A recent Statistics Canada report revealed that visible minorities are soon expected to constitute more than half the population of major Canadian cities. A Globe and Mail article referring to this population shift was entitled "Visible Majority by 2017" (Mahoney 2005). Given the legacy of exclusion and inequality for visible minorities in Canada, such a demographic shift represents various unique and novel challenges for policy-makers. Failure to anticipate and address these challenges may result in significant dissatisfaction, racial unrest, and conflict.
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which ethno-racial groups designated as visible minorities are economically integrated into Canadian society, attending to their earnings compared to the charter and European groups while also distinguishing immigrants from native-born Canadians. The aim is to explain findings and suggest policies that may reduce these earnings inequalities, thus the most recent census data available (2001) was used.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Canada's multicultural policy was intended to facilitate the adjustment to Canadian society of members of various ethno-cultural groups by helping them overcome barriers and combat prejudice and racial discrimination. However, this policy is somewhat overshadowed by a more fundamental piece of legislation that is also intended for nation-building; the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The charter legislated equal treatment of all individuals and attempted to eliminate discriminatory practices while also establishing clear protection for English and French language and education (sections 16-21, 23, and 29). However, without giving parallel protection to the collective linguistic rights of ethno-racial minorities (Kallen 2003), Canada's dominant nation-building set of policies enshrined bilingualism, declaring that English and French were the official languages, and in effect, ignoring the important contribution made by other ethno-linguistic and religious groups and failing to protect their collective rights.
Such unequal protection has had negative implications for those ethno-racial groups that are not officially recognized. Porter documented that ethno-racial minorities experienced unequal treatment and had less access to socio-economic resources in 1965, a position that was further supported by a plethora of research (see Lautard and Guppy 1990; Satzewich 1992, 1998; Nakhaie 1995; Dei 1996; Li 2000; Henry et al. 2000). Research also supports the fact that charter groups still command elite status (see Nakhaie 1997, 2004), though there tends to be far less inequality at the mass level (see Lautard and Guppy 1990; Nakhaie 1995). For Porter, sources of such inequality were educational disparities, how recently people had immigrated, and the relatively slow acculturation of non-charter minorities. Though his thesis has not gone unchallenged (see Darroch 1979; Hunter 1986; Ogmundson 1990, 1993; Ogmundson and McLaughlin 1992), almost all the research documents the disadvantaged position of those minorities whose bio-cultural characteristics are different from those of the dominant charter groups. Among these, visible minorities and Aboriginals experience the greatest disadvantage. Jewish people are the exception, ranking highest in socio-economic attainment. In general, findings suggest that ethno-racial minorities are hired less often (Henry and Ginzberg 1985), and if they are hired, they are often paid less (Lian and Mathews 1998; Wanner 1998; Harvey et al. 1999; Li 2000).
During the early debates on affirmative action and/or employment equity, Winn's (1985) study of 1971 and 1981 censuses revealed that some visible minorities (Asians in 1971 and Japanese in 1981) earned more than did the average British and/or Canadian citizen. He also showed that white Canadians' earnings were just as heterogeneous as were non-Whites. For example, in 1981, the former were as likely to be in the top income quartile as in the bottom. Winn suggested that earnings gaps were related to the educational attainment of ethno-racial groups' members. To the extent that Whites and non-Whites were paid less than was expected based on their educational attainments, this was said to be attributable to their education and training not being "suited" to the Canadian labour market. Winn concluded that affirmative action and/or quota hiring was misguided and could only offer the illusion of terminating inequality by fiat (Winn 1985). Winn's bivariate study, however, did not take into account various factors that affect earnings.
Boyd's (1992) study of the 1986 Census Public Use Microdata File (PUMF), that coincided with the implementation of Employment Equity legislation, adjusted for confounding factors such as age, region, CMA of residence, marital status, education, occupation, and full-time/part-time status. She showed that once relevant factors were controlled for, "a strong pattern of visible minority income disadvantage" emerges from the data, the brunt of it experienced by the foreign born (1992, 296). Her study of earnings levels for foreign-born males placed the British at the top, followed by Jews, Scandinavians, Croatians, Ukrainians, French, Dutch, Italian, and other Europeans. At the bottom of the list were visible minorities: West Asians, South Asians, Southeast Asians, Chinese, and Blacks; Greeks were almost on a par with Blacks; and Filipinos were ranked at the bottom of all the groups. The evidence for females was generally similar (Boyd 1992, table 5).
Lian and Mathews (1998) analyzed the 1991 PUMF and demonstrated extreme differences in earnings levels as well as in the financial return to education levels. They included more control variables than had the previous studies (region, community size, age, gender, marital status, geographical mobility, knowledge of official languages, immigration period, education, industry, occupation, fulltime/part-time status, and amount of time worked). Nevertheless, they also found that visible minorities earned less than the British and other Europeans, and that at all levels of education, visible minorities earned less than the average Canadian. Thus, among those with a university degree, people of Arabic, South Asian, West Asian, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Latin American ancestry earned somewhere between 22 and 39 percent less than average. This evidence led them to conclude that "there is some considerable level of racial discrimination in Canada" (italics in the original; 1998, 476). They suggested that while the traditional vertical mosaic imagery may be disappearing, Canadian society can now best be characterized as a "coloured mosaic" and/or as "a racist society" (1998, 476; also see Hou and Balakrishnan 1996; Harvey et al. 1999).
Li's (2000) analysis of the 1996 census substantiated Boyd's and Lian and Mathews' research on the financial disadvantages experienced by racial minorities. By focussing on the earnings of two broad groups, native-born and immigrants, and by relying on the 1996 Census PUMF, Li (2000) showed that immigrants earn more than native-born Canadians. However, once the variation in relevant variables (gender, nativity, urban location, education, a proxy of experience, knowledge of official languages, length of time worked, full-time/part-time status, occupation, and industry) were taken into account, immigrants' earning advantages over native-born Canadians disappeared. In other words, the apparent immigrant advantage was actually the result of their human capital, etc., compared to the native-born. Li also showed that, whether native-born or immigrant, visible minorities earn less than non-visible minorities. He suggested that differential treatment based on racial characteristics and not just human capital may account for these findings. Li's research did not differentiate between various groups of ethno-racial minorities.
In sum, these selected studies suggest that the nature of the vertical mosaic in Canada has changed into one reflecting vertical colour, in that visible minorities are significantly disadvantaged in terms of occupation and earnings despite their higher education compared to Whites. However, it is not clear from these studies if such inequity is due to race or nativity. Historically, Canada's treatment of immigrants has been racist. Until the 1950s, Canada's immigration policy was characterized as a "closed door" for non-Whites; "non-Whites were not welcome" (Anderson and Frederes 1981, 224-27). It encouraged the application of white Europeans and discouraged non-Whites from applying. Although it was largely abandoned later, such racist policies not only barred ethno-racial minorities from entering Canada, they also undermined the position of native, visible minority Canadians. They helped promote a culture of prejudice and differential treatment of ethno-racial minorities among those bore in Canada. As well, by minimizing the estimated size of incoming minorities, such policies limited access to, and mobilization of, cultural and social capital among immigrants. These discriminatory practices limited networks and vertical ties between ethno-racial... |
More articles from Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal
Introduction: multicultural futures? Challenges and solutions/Avenirs ..., September 22, 2006
Provincial multiculturalism policies in Canada, 1974-2004: a content a..., September 22, 2006
Demography, national myths, and political origins: perceiving official..., September 22, 2006
Social capital and ethnic harmony: evidence from the New Brunswick cas..., September 22, 2006
Housing experiences of Black Africans in Toronto's rental market: a ca..., September 22, 2006
Looking for additional articles?
Click here
to search our database of over 3 million articles.
|
