“Why Count?”: Are Ethnic Group and Visible Minority Group

Useful in the Study of Immigrant Employment Success in Canada?

Kristyn FrankUniversity of Waterloo

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Research Problem

Economic integration of immigrants into Canadian society is a concern to researchers, policy-makers and immigrants themselves

Some question whether employment difficulties of immigrants is due to discriminatory hiring practices

Research Questions Is the employment success of

immigrants to Canada statistically dependent on ethnic origin and/or visible minority group? If so, which groups have the greatest

and least amounts of success? If so, does ethnic group or visible

minority group have a stronger association with employment success?

Background John Porter (1965): The Vertical Mosaic

Observed Canada as an ethnically stratified society Found that British and French ethnic groups were the

most advantaged Demographic changes in immigrants shifted

focus to stratification from ethnic to racial groupings

Recent studies diverge: Some support Porter’s thesis (e.g.Nakhaie 1998;

Lautard & Loree 1984) Some find Canadian society stratified more along

racial lines (e.g. Herberg 1990; Lian and Matthews 1998)

Data Source

Survey: Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada Statistics Canada and Citizenship and

Immigration Canada Immigrants’ experiences adapting to

Canadian society in their first 4 years Includes immigrants who arrived

between Oct. 1, 2000 and Sept. 30, 2001

Methodology Scope:

Individuals aged 25-64 Individuals who stated an intended

occupation prior to immigrating Statistical Methods:

Chi-square tests of independence Cramer’s V strength of association test

Weighting: Proportional to sample size

Definition of Terms

Ethnic Group: Respondent’s ethnic or cultural identity as it relates to themselves or their ancestors

Visible Minority Group: “Visible minority” identified within Canadian society as “non-Caucasian”; based on physical attributes

Definition of Terms “Employment Success” measured by 2

dependent variables: Major Group Job Match: Whether an immigrant

obtained a job since immigrating that matches his/her intended occupation at the major group level of the 2001 National Occupational Classification (e.g. “Clerical Occupations”; “Professional Occupations in Health”)

Skill Level Match: Whether the skill level of any job that an immigrant has held since arrival matches the skill level required for his/her intended occupation (4 skill levels-2001 NOC)

Findings: Employment Success of Immigrants to Canada (Major Group)

Major Group Job Match For Immigrants to Canada

66.1

33.9

01020304050

60708090

100

Major Group Match No Major Group Match

Per

cent

Findings: Employment Success of Immigrants to Canada (Skill Level)

Skill Level Match for Immigrants to Canada

51.548.5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Skill Level Match No Skill Level Match

Per

cen

t

Findings: Chi-Square Tests of Independence - Major Group

Statistical Information

Ethnic Group and Major Group Job Match

Visible Minority Group and Major Group Job Match

Pearson Chi-Square Value (Χ2)

41.175 (a) 54.369 (a)

Degrees of Freedom

7 8

Asymp. Significance (2-sided)

< .001 < .001

Cramer’s V Value .118 (approx. sig. < .001) .134 (approx. sig. < .001)

N of Valid Cases 2,967 3,009

a = 0 cells have expected count less than 5.

Findings: Major Group Job Match by Ethnic Group

Percent with Job Match by Ethnic Group

48.362.7

38.2 32.4 32.7 31.6 29.942

51.737.3

61.8 67.6 67.3 68.4 70.158

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Bri

tish/

Nor

ther

nE

urop

ean

Fre

nch

Wes

tern

and

Sou

ther

nE

urop

ean

Eas

tern

Eur

opea

n

Oth

erE

urop

ean

Ara

b

Sou

th A

sian

Car

ibbe

an,

Latin

, C

entr

al,

and

Sou

thA

mer

ican

Ethnic Group

Per

cen

t

Job Match No Job Match

Findings: Major Group Job Match by Visible Minority Group

Percent with Job Match by Visible Minority Group

30.6 30.7 31.4 35.7 3324.2 25.9

43.5 43.5

69.4 69.3 68.6 64.3 6775.8 74.1

56.5 56.5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Chi

nese

Sou

th a

ndS

outh

east

Asi

an Bla

ck

Fili

pino

Latin

Am

eric

an

Ara

b/W

est

Asi

an

Japa

nese

and

Kor

ean

Oth

er V

isib

leM

inor

ities

*

Whi

te

Visible Minority Group

Per

cen

t

Job Match No Job Match

Findings: Chi-Square Tests of Independence –

Skill Level

Statistical Information

Ethnic Group and Skill Level Match

Visible Minority Group and Skill Level Match

Pearson Chi-Square Value (Χ2)

63.502 (a) 60.168 (a)

Degrees of Freedom

7 8

Asymp. Significance (2-sided)

< .001 < .001

Cramer’s V Value .151 (approx. sig. <.001) .146 (approx. sig. < .001)

N of Valid Cases 2,779 2,818

a = 0 cells have expected count less than 5.

Findings: Skill Level Match by Ethnic Group

Percent with Skill Level Match by Ethnic Group

78 79

54.845.3 48.2 44.4 41.1

61.1

22 21

45.254.7 51.8 55.6 58.6

38.9

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Brit

ish/

Nor

ther

nE

urop

ean

Fre

nch

Wes

tern

and

Sou

ther

nE

urop

ean

Eas

tern

Eur

opea

n

Oth

erE

urop

ean

Ara

b

Sou

th A

sian

Car

ibbe

an,

Latin

, Cen

tral

,an

d S

outh

Am

eric

an

Ethnic Group

Per

cen

t

Skill Level Match No Skill Level Match

Findings: Skill Level Match by Visible Minority Group

Percent with Skill Level Match by Visible Minority Group

42.8 43.350.7 50.7 47.2 44.2

37.2

60.9 59.5

57.2 56.749.3 49.3 52.8 55.8

62.8

39.1 40.5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Chi

nese

Sou

th a

ndS

outh

east

Asi

an Bla

ck

Fili

pino

Latin

Am

eric

an

Ara

b/W

est

Asi

an

Japa

nese

and

Kor

ean

Oth

er V

isib

leM

inor

ities

*

Whi

te

Visible Minority Group

Per

cen

t

Skill Level Match No Skill Level Match

Conclusions Both ethnic group and visible minority group are

relevant to the study of immigrant employment success

Strength of association tests show visible minority group has a slightly stronger relationship with major group job match than ethnic group does

Ethnic group and visible minority group have stronger associations with skill level match than with major group job match

The French and British/Northern European ethnic groups have more employment success than other groups

The South Asian and Arab ethnic groups have the least employment success than other groups

Conclusions

Among visible minority groups, Whites have a high degree of success in obtaining a major group match and skill level match

The Japanese and Korean visible minority group, as well as the Arab and West Asian group have low employment success compared to others

Discussion Studies that include ethnic group and/or

visible minority group may have problems with the concepts overlapping Respondents may confuse the two concepts Researchers have to deal with similar labels

between the two variables (e.g. “Arab”) When using some data sets, some

categories have to be collapsed, further complicating the distinctions between groups

Discussion

Policy Implications of focusing on Ethnic Group vs. Visible Minority Group Different policy concerns and

recommendations based on which concept is studied

Thank You! Merci!