Asian immigrants in Canada: some findings from 1981 census

Immigrant characteristics in Canada are analyzed using data from the 1981 census. "The purpose of this paper is to focus on Asian immigrants and to compare them with immigrants born in the United Kingdom, and also to compare them with Canadian-born persons with respect to age, sex, marital status composition, educational attainment, labour force participation, class of worker, occupation and income." (summary in FRE, SPA)     

Toward a prediction of third-world immigrants into Canada, 1973-1985

The author examines trends in migratory movements to Canada between 1949 and 1972 in an attempt to determine the statistical regularity of immigration from developing countries and to predict the probable number of third world immigrants to Canada for the period 1973-1985. The effects on migration of political factors and of variables associated with the area of origin are studied (SUMMARY IN FRE, SPA)     

Sex,marital status,and suicide in Canada: 1951-1981

Data from Canada for the period 1951-1981 are used to analyze the influence of marital status on suicide. "Using a standardization procedure, it was discovered that a transition from single or widowed to married would entail a greater reduction in suicide risk for men than for women. In the case of a transition from divorced to married status, both sexes would benefit equally in reducing suicide potential. The analysis further demonstrates only weak support for the thesis that over time there would be a convergence in sex differences in the potential protective significance of marriage in reducing suicide risk."     

The unemployment insurance compensation. Usage of Canada's immigrants in selected provinces, 1981-1988

This paper explores the relationship between province of residence and the use of unemployment insurance (UI) among immigrants who landed in Canada during the period 1981-88.
Use of a new data set, the Longitudinal Immigration Data Base, overcomes the restriction that other data sets are cross-sectional only in nature or do not identify birthplace.
Our principal conclusion is that more generous UI benefits and poorer economic conditions than the Canadian average have a positive impact on the fraction of immigrants who receive UI. In addition, the province of residence has a separate effect on the likelihood of claiming UI, perhaps due to mobility costs.
Because national immigration policies have a differential impact across provinces, it is understandable that provincial policy makers wish to have greater influence over federal immigration policies.     

Adjustment of immigrants in Canada: methodological possibilities and its implications

Progress in research on the adaptation of immigrants depends on the resolution of both its methodological and empirical aspects. Adaptation can be defined in operational terms as "partaking in the life of the country productively and to one's advantage." The society to which immigrants need to adapt is usually highly developed. Factors that influence immigrants' adaptation are 1) demographic factors, 2) economic factors, 3) social factors, 4) the immigration policy of the country of destination, and 5) the motives for immigration combined with information on the country of destination. 3 models analyze the socioeconomic adaption of immigrants: 1) the assimilation model (the period of immigration is the most important determinant of immigrants' adjustment); 2) the ethnic stratification model (status at entry to the receiving country differs for different ethnic groups); 3) the structural differences model (demographic, economic, and social characteristics of immigrants interact and may influence the adaptation process). The author examines the adjustment process of immigrants to Canada on the assumption that the age of immigrants at the moment of arrival in Canada plays the most important role in adaptation. The following are factors in the adaptation process in order of importance: 1) person's age at the moment of arrival (PAMA) in Canada, 2) duration of residence in Canada, and 3) membership in an ethnic group. The immigrant population is stratified by cohorts defined according to these factors. The author divides nonimmigrant cohorts into 4 stages: 1) exploration (age 24 and under), 2) stabilization (age 25-44), 3) mature (45-59), and 4) reconciliation stage (age 60 and over). He further defines 6 cohorts of immigrants: 1) preschool and school population (early exploration stage, 0-16); 2) vocational training, university, and 1st stage of family formation (terminal period of exploration stage, age 17-24); 3) prime family formation period and 1st stage of work experience (1st period of professional stabilization stage, age 25-34); 4) terminal period of family and household formation and prime period of professional stabilization (2nd period of professional stabilization stage, age 35-44); 5) older worker population (mature stage, age 45-59); 6) workers before retirement and elderly population (reconciliation stage in professional life, age 60 and over). By defining immigrant subpopulations using both the PAMA and "ethnicity" factors as the criteria, one can examine the roots of the observed variation across subpopulations from both structural and cultural points of view.     

Immigration without adaptation: The psychological world of Russian immigrants in Israel

This study examines new immigrants from the former USSR, their attitudes, expectations and the awareness of change in themselves and in their fellow immigrants. Participants demonstrated attitudes toward the new society which differed dramatically depending on the sphere of life being examined: cultural, institutional, or quotidian. Participants displayed a tendency toward integration in the institutional and quotidian spheres, but not in the cultural. An attitude toward integration did not automatically lead to an awareness of change in the new immigrants themselves. Participants consistently reported higher degrees of change in fellow immigrants in comparison to themselves. The issue of preservation of self‐identity through socio‐cultural conservation is discussed, as well as the relevance of these findings for Vygotsky's cultural‐historical theory and Feuerstein's theory of mediated learning.     

India-born immigrants in Australia and Canada: a comparison of selected characteristics

"This article examines the Indian component of Asian immigration to Canada and Australia, reviews briefly the historical background of Indian immigration, discusses the characteristics of India-born immigrants and explores their social impact upon both nations. A comparative approach is adopted to highlight similarities and differences." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Russia's social upper class: from ostentation to culturedness

This article discusses examples of strategies employed by representatives of Russia's new social upper class to acquire social distinction. By the late 2000s many of the upper‐class Russians included in this study distanced themselves from the conspicuous ostentation ascribed to the brutish 1990s. Instead, they strove to gain legitimacy for their social position by no longer aggressively displaying their wealth, but instead elaborating more refined and individualized tastes and manners and reviving a more cultured image and self‐image. These changes found their expression in various modes of social distinction ranging from external signs, such as fashion and cars, to ostentation vicariously exercised through the people these upper‐class Russians surrounded themselves with. The article will trace these interviewees' strategies for distinction in the late 2000s by discussing tastes in lifestyle and consumption as well as adornment through sartorial signs and through vicarious ostentation, as exemplified by their choice of female company. Changing attitudes towards vehicles and modes of transport, with special regards to the Moscow Metro, will serve as a further illustration of modes of distinction. Crucial for this discussion is the role of the Russian/Soviet intelligentsia, both for vicarious status assertion and elite distinction anchored in the interviewees' social backgrounds.     

Acquisition of cross-ethnic friends by recent immigrants in Canada: a longitudinal approach

This paper examines the development of inter-ethnic friendships between immigrants and Canadians. It uses longitudinal data from three waves of the Canadian LSIC survey, in which newly arrived immigrants were followed during the first 4 years of settlement. It is found that pre-migration characteristics play an important role in the development of inter-ethnic friendships: immigrants who arrive at a younger age and for economic reasons, as well as those who are highly educated and have a cross-ethnic partner at the moment of arrival, establish more inter-ethnic friendships over time. In addition, post-migration characteristics affect the formation of inter-ethnic friendships. Such friendships are more common among immigrants who embrace Canadian traditions and acquire the host-country language, as well as among those who work in international settings and inhabit ethnically mixed neighborhoods. The effects of pre-migration characteristics are partially mediated by post-migration characteristics. Our findings point out that economic, cultural, and spatial integration are all conducive to inter-ethnic friendships.     

The labour market absorption of CIS immigrants to Israel: 1989-1994

The labour market absorption in the 1990s of some 600,000 immigrants from the ex-USSR has, on the whole, been a major success. The rate of unemployment among immigrants who came in 1990 has converged on the rate of unemployment for native Israelis. However, concern has been focused on the low rates of occupational retention and the waste of human capital that this implies. We use three micro data sets to investigate the absorption dynamics of CIS immigrants in the Israeli labour market in the 1990s.
Our findings suggest that the employment absorption process is steady, if slow. The Labour Force Survey suggests that "academics" experience positive duration dependence during the first four years in Israel. Vocational training did not appear to promote employment absorption. However, Hebrew training has a beneficial effect on employment absorption. We caution against the interpretation of occupational mismatch as being identical with the waste of human capital. It takes a long time until owners of human capital can fully adapt it to their new milieu.     

Social and human capital in immigrant adaptation:: The case of Canadian business immigrants

Purpose: With the resurgence of immigration to North America in the past three decades, research on immigrant adaptation and the attendant issues of assimilation has burgeoned. A prevailing assumption of much of this research is that social capital is a vital resource enabling immigrants to find their economic and social niches in the host society. In a word, social capital is a key factor in the immigrant adaptation process. This assumption has been especially prominent in research focusing on one specific subset of immigrants: entrepreneurs. Social capital in the form of ethnic networks and family ties is assumed to function critically in the establishment and operation of immigrant-owned businesses. This paper argues that although the formation and expenditure of social capital may typify the experiences of many or even most immigrant entrepreneurs, some enter the host society with sufficient human and/or financial capital that enables them to forego the utilization of social capital in the adaptation process.Methods: To demonstrate, I draw upon in-depth interviews conducted with 70 immigrant entrepreneurs in the province of Ontario, Canada between 1993 and 1995. All interviewees entered Canada under the auspices of the Canadian Business Immigration Program, a federal program designed to attract immigrants with demonstrable business and managerial skills that presumably will lead to the establishment of a firm and thus to the subsequent creation of jobs and economic activity. A formal requirement of their entrance, then, is the possession of proven business skills, a critical form of human capital that facilitates successful economic adaptation in the host society.Forms of social capital are described and their applicability to the adaptation experiences of the interviewees is analyzed. What is found among these business immigrants is a minimal reliance on social capital in establishing and operating their firms. In securing investment capital, finding a work force, and acquiring information, ethnic and family ties, the most common forms of social capital for immigrants generally and for immigrant entrepreneurs in particular, do not play a major role. Solidarity with co-ethnics and the use of family labor, so common among conventional immigrant entrepreneurs, are not of significant import in the economic adaptation of these business immigrants. Moreover, ties to coethnics are only minimally significant in patterns of social adaptation as well.Results: It is concluded that immigrants entering the host society with pre-migration intentions of business ownership possess sufficient human capital that enables them to disregard the formation and utilization of social capital in their economic and social adaptation. In this they differ from immigrants who take a more conventional path to business ownership, that is, laboring in the mainstream work force following entrance into the host society and gradually accumulating resources that lead to entrepreneurship.For business immigrants with children, however, social capital does play a key role in the decision to immigrate. Business immigrants are prepared to abandon successful firms in the origin society in order to provide their children with a more promising socioeconomic environment, including above all what is viewed as superior opportunities for education. Hence, the social capital that inheres in close-knit family arrangements provides incentive for parents to accept losses in financial capital in order to increase their children’s human capital.Conclusion: The context of the receiving society may also be seen as a form of social capital for Canadian business immigrants. All declare that quality of life, rather than the lure of financial success, serves as their major incentive to immigrate to Canada. Moreover, the fact that they enter a society that officially proclaims its multicultural character offers them the opportunity to become Canadian but to retain their ethnicity. The source of social capital in this case, then, is not the ethnic community, but the broader society.     

Migration between Canada and the United States, 1970-85: some new estimates

The author applies the revised UN definition of what constitutes an emigrant to migration data on moves between Canada and the United States over the period 1970-1985. "The effect of changing to the UN definition is dramatic, and differences between old and new estimates are not systematic.... If these findings stand up when all migrants are included, using the UN definition, then the much larger flows suggest that the effects on the composition and characteristics of the nonmigrant population of Canada warrant investigation."     

From refugees to immigrants: the legalization strategies of Salvadoran immigrants and activists

"The legalization strategies pursued by Salvadoran immigrants and activists from the 1980s to the present demonstrate that migrants' and advocates' responses to policy changes reinterpret law in ways that affect future policy. Law is critical to immigrants' strategies in that [U.S.] legal status is increasingly a prerequisite for rights and services and that immigration law is embedded in other institutions and relationships. Immigration law is defined, however, not only when it is first formulated but also as it is implemented, enabling the immigrants who are defined according to legal categories to shape the definitions that categorization produces. Immigrants and activists also take formal legal and political actions, such as lobbying Congress and filing class action suits. Through such formal and informal policy negotiations, immigrants seek to shape their own and their nations' futures."     

Economic adaptation of refugees in Canada: experience of a quarter century

This paper examines the economic adaptation, in terms of employment and income, for 400,000 refugees, mainly displaced persons, Hungarians, Czechoslovaks, Ugandan Asians, Chileans, and Indochinese, in Canada during the last 25 years. The author looks at 1) east in obtaining a first job, 2) unemployment, 3) wives' employment, 4) job search techniques, and 5) occupation. Economic climate largely determines the time needed to find a first job. 55% of Hungarian refugees in 1957-58 found a job within a month; only 30% of Czechoslovak refugees in 1968-69 found a job within a month. Refugees and regular immigrants have higher unemployment than native Canadians; but the rate drops dramatically within a few years. Employment and unemployment for refugees is influenced by 1) prevailing labor market conditions, 2) English and/or French language proficiency, 3) sympathy by the population for the refugees, 4) support by people of the same ethnic group, and 5) the refugees' own adaptability. Survey results show that more refugee wives are employed than Canadian born wives; over 69% of Chilean refugee women worked in 1975-76. Most refugees use the Canada Employment Center, and informal channels such as "word of mouth" and friends and relatives to find jobs. Lack of qualifications and experience, and lack of language proficiency hinder many refugees in finding jobs for which they have trained. Income is an indicator of the success of refugee economic adaptation. Refugees, like regular immigrants, have lower than average income levels in their first years in Canada; however, they often earn more than the Canadian born after the difficult first years. Family incomes, because of female labor force participation, may widen the differences even more. Although many refugees are not working in their intended professions, most refugee groups have adjusted well economically in Canada.     

The paradoxical role of social class background in the educational and labour market outcomes of the children of immigrants in the UK

Despite predominantly lower social class origins, the second generation of established immigrant groups in the UK are now attaining high levels of education. However, they continue to experience poorer labour market outcomes than the majority population. These worse outcomes are often attributed in part to their disadvantaged origins, which do not, by contrast, appear to constrain their educational success. This paper engages with this paradox. We discuss potential mechanisms for second-generation educational success and how far we might expect these to be replicated in labour market outcomes. We substantiate our discussion with new empirical analysis. Drawing on a unique longitudinal study of England and Wales spanning 40 years and encompassing one per cent of the population, we present evidence on the educational and labour market outcomes of the second generation of four groups of immigrants and the white British majority, controlling for multiple measures of social origins. We demonstrate that second-generation men and women's educational advantage is only partially reflected in the labour market. We reflect on the implications of our findings for future research.