Age, Language Are Key to Better Outcomes for Immigrants
Many immigration issues transcend economics, but Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s cross-country consultation is a remarkable opportunity for an overdue national discussion regarding the role of immigration in the Canadian economy.Economists, government analysts and others have been documenting the ongoing decline in immigrant labour market outcomes for at least two decades. In 1980, the percentage of immigrants and the Canadian-born living below the low-income cut-off (sometimes called a poverty line) was almost identical at about 17 per cent. Since then, the rate for immigrants increased to more than 21 per cent (in 2005), while that for the Canadian-born decreased to 13 per cent.