Immigrants play an important role in bridging gaps in the labour market, both short and long-term. Statistics now confirm that the children of immigrants outperform children from Canadian-born parents in educational attainment thus adding another important benefit that immigrants bring to Canada.
These findings are outlined in a Statistics Canada paper entitled ‘Educational and Labour Market Outcomes of
Childhood Immigrants by Admission Class’ and reveals that children of immigrants graduate high school at a rate of 91.6 per cent, against 88.8 per cent of children who are third
generation or more.
At university, the gap increases, with 35.9 immigrant children graduating against 24.4 per cent from the established Canadian group.
In educational terms, third generation Canadians are also bettered by every class of refugee in both the high school and university graduation categories.
Only when it comes to average earnings does the third-generation Canadian group rank on top, at $46,100 compared to $42,900 for immigrants.
Contribution of Immigrant Children
| Admission class | Graduated high-school (%) | Graduated university (%) | Average earnings ($) |
| Skilled-worker | 96.2 | 49.7 | 46,400 |
| Business | 97.8 | 58.9 | 46,700 |
| Live-in caregiver | 93.3 | 19 | 33,500 |
| Family | 88.3 | 21.3 | 39,200 |
| Government-assisted refugees | 91 | 28.7 | 41,100 |
| Privately sponsored refugees | 91.2 | 31.7 | 43,900 |
| Refugees landed in Canada | 91.4 | 29.4 | 35,400 |
| Other refugees/humanitarian | 89.5 | 25.8 | 36,400 |
| OVERALL | |||
| IMMIGRANTS | 91.6 | 35.9 | 42,900 |
| THIRD GENERATION CANADIAN (OR MORE) | 88.8 | 24.4 | 46,100 |
Figures: Statistics Canada
“The children of immigrants who arrived in Canada over the past several decades outperform their peers with Canadian-born parents in educational attainment overall, and the two groups have similar labour market outcomes,” the Stats Can report confirms.
Performance of Children by Immigration Class
The Stats Can report also focused on the varying success of children based on their admission class.
The table above shows how children with parents who immigrated in either the skilled-worker or business class are at a significant advantage when it comes to education and labour market success.
“Immigrants admitted through different classes differ not only in human capital and family economic resources, but also in motivations, pre-migration circumstances, host country receptivity and post-migration experiences,” the report reads.
“These differences may have a bearing on the socioeconomic outcomes of the children of these immigrants.
“The analysis results confirm that childhood immigrants from different admission classes attained very different levels of education, particularly in terms of completing a university degree, and this in turn led to large variations in average earnings by admission class.”
Under all economic immigration programs, applicants are assessed, under varying measures, on the economic benefits they will bring to Canada. However the hidden and perhaps more compelling benefits are the contribution an immigrant’s children will bear on the host country, which the empirical evidence now confirms is more significant than the children of Canadian born parents. A community that invests in its immigrants can realize benefits that help fuel its long-term prosperity.
Case study
Quan Le beamed with pride on news his professor saw a map he had drawn hanging on the wall in the office of a Rwandan government official.
The undergraduate student had been working in the country as a research assistant on a project for University of Toronto economist Marco Gonzalez-Navarro.
He was the only undergraduate on a five-year project aimed at designing better rural roads to allow isolated villagers crucial access to markets in the country.
He spent six weeks on the ground in the African country in 2015, having worked on the project, funded by the World Bank and non-profit ‘Innovations for Poverty Action’, since the year before.
On graduating this year, Quan who is an “A” student will spend two years as an assistant at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research in California. He then plans to pursue his studies in Montreal where his family will reside.
Six years ago he was a high school student in Vietnam, before his family enlisted the help of experts at immigration.ca to realise their plans on moving to Canada.
Quan and his family are moving to Canada under the Quebec Investor program. The family is currently finalising their residence project in Montreal.
The Le family’s case is a classic illustration of the immeasurable human capital benefits that the children of immigrants bring to Canada.
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