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)     

Effect of declines in mortality on the birth rate and related measures

In December 1961, the government of the Republic of Korea adopted a programme of family planning as part of its public health services. In 1962 a pilot research project was begun, under university auspices, with the object of demonstrating and assessing what can be achieved through intensive family planning education and services. Wondang Myun near Seoul, with a rural population of 9,000 in seven villages, was chosen for the study. A baseline survey covering attitudes and practices related to family planning was made of the population under study, as well as of a similar population in the control area of Kimpo Myun. This report outlines the design, the programme of education and services, and some of the preliminary results of the study. After eighteen months of the programme, acceptance of birth control measures increased fourfold among the married women in the fertile age range. Acceptance was highest among the 25–39 age group, and among high-parity women. Economic considerations were foremost among the reasons given for adopting family planning. Among the traditional methods offered, the condom was the favoured method of choice, indicating that husbands were taking the initiative in contraceptive practice. A decline in the crude birth index was observed; whether the decline was due more to contraceptive practice or to abortion, at least an increase is reflected in the effective desire for family limitation. The high failure rate among Users should be investigated further. Continued effort is needed to provide more information and detailed instruction to users, and to develop social circumstances that support the practice of family planning. Along with an effort to achieve more effective use of traditional methods, other methods, including intra-uterine devices, deserve trial.     

Distribution, Inequality and Concentration of Incomeamong Older Immigrants in Canada

While there are many studies on differences in earnings between immigrants and the native‐born or among immigrant groups, they do not consider distribution and concentration of income among immigrants explicitly. These aspects are important for understanding the distribution of economic welfare and consumer behaviour among members and hence are policy relevant. Using the 1991 Census data, the distribution and concentration of incomehave been examined among 15 broad birthplace groups for population aged55 years and over. About 19 per cent of males and 15 per cent of femalesreceive less than half the median income and obtain 5 per cent and 3 per centof the aggregate income respectively. About 30 per cent of males and29 per cent of females receive more than one and half times the medianincome and obtain 61 per cent and 59 per cent of aggregate incomerespectively. About 51 per cent of males and 56 per cent of females whoreceive incomes between half and one and half times the median income aretermed middle‐class and their shares of aggregate income amount to 34 and38 per cent respectively. Although older immigrants aged 55 years and over, as a group, have roughlythe same quartile distribution and concentration of income as theirCanadian‐born counterparts, the birthplace groups differ considerably.Those from the developing regions, that is, the groups that have loweraverage annual incomes, also have more inequitable distribution of incomethan the Canadian‐born or their counterparts from the developed regions. Thus, income distribution is more polarized in populations from developingregions than in populations from developed regions or in the Canadian‐bornpopulation. On average, females receive 45 per cent less income than males, and thereis less polarization of income among them than among males regardless ofthe place of birth. A part of the explanation lies in the receipt of government transfers, whichtend to equalize rather than polarize incomes, and older women derive ahigher proportion of their income from government transfers than older men.     

Employment income of immigrants in metropolitan areas of Canada, 1980

This paper examines the economic achievements of immigrant groups and compares them with those of the Canadian-born population. Employment income in this study is income for members of the labor force who worked 40 weeks or more, full time, during 1980. The information is from the 1981 Census. The 15 birthplace groups considered in this study are classified into 2 major groups: those from traditional sources and those from non-traditional or new sources. Traditional sources are the US, UK, and Europe. The new sources are Africa, Asia, South and Central America, the Caribbean, and Oceania. More than 1/2 of the immigrants from traditional sources arrived before 1960, whereas more than 1/2 of immigrants from new sources arrived after 1970. The analysis is only for those areas called Census Metropolitan Areas. Results of analysis show that 1) immigrant men and women in metropolitan areas earned 1.9% and 5.9% respectively less than their Canadian-born counterparts; 2) when differences in age and educational attainment were considered, incomes of immigrant men and women were about 7.5% below those of their Canadian-born counterparts; 3) the new immigrant groups earned far less than those of the Canadian-born counterparts; 4) traditional-source immigrants' incomes were equal to or slightly higher than Canadians'; and 5) as length of residence increases, most immigrant groups improve their relative economic position and achieve incomes comparable to Canadians'. The authors discuss the economic adaptation of immigrants in the light of various models: assimilation, Marxist class conflict, ethnic stratification and segmentation, structural pluralism, and structural change. No theory can be applied to the economic adaptation of all types of immigrants. Finally, refugees and sponsored relatives, who are not admitted on the basis of education and occupational need, are likely to have more difficulties than independent immigrants.     

A comparative study of immigrant and non-immigrant families in Canada with special reference to income, 1986

A comparison of immigrant and non-immigrant families in Canada based on unpublished data from the 1986 Consensus of Canada indicates that immigrant families have stronger family ties and higher income than their non-immigrant counterparts. This could be partly because immigrant families contain higher proportions of their members at prime working ages, higher proportions with three or more employment income recipients and higher proportions working full year full time. As the period of residence in Canada of immigrants increases, the difference in income between immigrant and non-immigrant families increases. However, the income difference is smaller for husband-wife and male lone-parent families than for female lone-parent families. The multivariate analysis of family income indicates that age and family type have overwhelming effects and that place of birth is third in importance. Immigrant families from the US, UK, Europe (excluding Southern Europe) and Africa have higher incomes than families from other places of birth.
Both non-immigrant and immigrant husband-wife and male lone-parent families derive about 75 per cent of their total income from wages and salaries, whereas non-immigrant and immigrant female lone-parent families derive about 62 and 68 per cent respectively. Non-immigrant female lone-parent families derive about 24 per cent of their income from government transfers, whereas immigrant female lone-parent families derive about 16 per cent. With the exception of Old Age Security payments and Guaranteed Income Supplement, government transfers such as Canada and Quebec Pension Plan payments, unemployment insurance benefits, family allowances, worker's compensation, provincial income supplements and tax credits are smaller for immigrant families both in dollar amounts and as proportions of their total income for the non-immigrant families.     

The influence of fluctuations in economic conditions on fertility and marriage rates, Australia, 1920-21 to 1937-38 and 1946-47 to 1966-67

Abstract It has been widely observed that both cross-sectionally and secularly there has been a negative relationship between income or level of living and the family size of married females. 1 At the same time the relationship between economic indicators and current fertility with a lag of one or more years over the business cycle has been found to be strongly positive. In fact the persistence of the latter relationship over a wide area and varying periods led Dr. Thomas to remark that it has been one of the most firmly based empirical findings in any of the social sciences.