Chinese Immigrants in Canada:Their Changing Composition and Economic

Performance

Context Conceptual Framework Data Sources Changes in Composition Economic Performance Concluding Remarks

Context (1)

The Chinese have become the largest group of immigrants in Canada. They account for 20 per cent of Canada’s total immigration in-take, and the Chinese language has become the third-most-spoken language in Canada.

Context (2)Push Factors:

Late 1970s, Mainland China began to relax its restrictions on the exit of Chinese citizens.

Also late 1970s, anti-Chinese sentiments in Vietnam pushed a large number of Chinese Vietnamese to flee their adopted homeland.

In 1984, China and the UK reached agreement for Hong Kong to be returned to China in 1997.

In 1985, the federal policy of admitting business immigrants was expanded to include investors, entrepreneurs and self-employed persons.

The 1989 student movement in China,

In the 1990s, the Chinese government eliminated most of the remaining restrictions on the exit of its citizens.

Context (3)

Pull Factors:

Canada’s potential economic opportunities (both business and employment)

Canada’s stable political environment and democracy

Canada welcomes them because of their potential to contribute to the country’s economic growth and population growth

Context (4)Internal Differences

Recent Chinese immigrants to Canada have come from different origins with varying political, social, and economic conditions.

Chinese immigrants are not a uniform group, and significant internal differences exist.

Although immigrants from Mainland China, HK and Taiwan are all Chinese in ethnicity, their political tendencies, social values, and economic behaviour are markedly different.

While they all report Chinese as mother tongue, they use different characters and different dialects written and oral communications.

Differences between immigrants from the Mainland, HK and Taiwan on the one hand, and those from the rest of the world on the other, are even greater.

These background variations have differentiated them into different segments within the political, cultural, and economic realms in Canada.

Context (5)

Purpose of the Study:

Analyze the changing composition of the Chinese immigrants who were admitted to Canada in the last two decades to reveal their internal differences

Examine their economic performance in Canada.

Intend to answer such questions as: which group of Chinese performs better in the Canadian labour

market? What does it take for the Chinese to achieve full integration?

Conceptual Framework

wealth-maximization thesis (Borjas 1988 and 1993; Mueller 1999)

human capital thesis (Friedberg 2000). upward-mobility thesis concept of assimilation (Friedberg 2000). concept of integration (Breton 1992; Burstein and Duncan 2003)

economic discrimination (Henry and Tator 2006; Weinfeld 1990)

Suggested explanations for widening

income gaps Changes in sources of immigrants

inability of immigrants to have their credentials recognized and transferred to the Canadian labour market

the lack of language and communication skills

recent changes in both the Canadian economy and the characteristics of the native-born population.

geographical variations in economic structure and level of development,

Data Sources (1) Two administrative datasets in the IMDB: LIDS and tax data.

Mother tongue is used as the defining factor.

An immigrant was defined as Chinese if any of the following dialects was reported as mother tongue

Cantonese: 488,296 61.2% Mandarin: 198,946 24.9% Chinese: 68,035 8.5% Hakka: 1,245 0.2% Shanghai: 137 <0.1% Other Chinese dialects: 40,994 5.1% Total 797,653 100%

Data Sources (2)

Tax data are for the 1999 tax year

343,890 Chinese immigrants were captured (accounting for 53 per cent of all the Chinese immigrants).

185,525 reported employment income, 31,620 reported self-employment income, and 174,495 reported investment income.

Data Sources (3)

This study differs from census-based studies in two ways:

LIDS data contain the important characteristics of immigrants at the time of landing

Income derived from tax returns is more accurate than that contained in the census.

Changes in Composition (1)Figure 1 Chinese Immigrants to Canada, 1980-2000

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

50000

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Year of Landing

Mainland Taiwan Hong Kong Vietnam

Changes in Composition (2)Table 1: Chinese Immigrants in Canada by Origin and Intended Destination, 1980-2000

IntendedDestination

(CMA)

OriginTotal Chinese*

Mainland China Hong Kong Taiwan Vietnam

No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %

Toronto 89653 41.3 162361 45.1 19932 21.4 11195 28.4 311929 39.7

Vancouver 55003 25.3 106624 29.6 56039 60.2 3640 9.2 242089 30.8

Montreal 15806 7.3 27378 7.6 9181 9.9 2731 6.9 62300 7.9

Calgary 8344 3.8 16656 4.6 2387 2.6 3770 9.6 34744 4.4

Edmonton 6929 3.2 14599 4.1 975 1.0 3483 8.8 31556 4.0

Ottawa 9184 4.2 4844 1.3 544 0.6 1368 3.5 18064 2.3

Winnipeg 3658 1.7 4696 1.3 373 0.4 2147 5.5 12065 1.5

Hamilton 2710 1.2 2374 0.7 412 0.4 1121 2.8 7224 0.9

Victoria 2343 1.1 1589 0.4 302 0.3 317 0.8 4964 0.6

Regina 1043 0.5 2167 0.6 336 0.4 519 1.3 4334 0.6

Saskatoon 1783 0.8 1269 0.4 166 0.2 653 1.7 4102 0.5

London 1669 0.8 1412 0.4 158 0.2 627 1.6 4205 0.5

Halifax 1485 0.7 1632 0.5 307 0.3 219 0.6 3927 0.5

Quebec City 871 0.4 201 0.1 122 0.1 222 0.6 1671 0.2

Sub total 200481 92.4 347802 96.5 91234 98.0 32012 81.3 743174 94.5

Canada 217030 100.0 360277 100.0 93077 100.0 39358 100.0 786257 100.0

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2001

*Includes those Chinese immigrants from all other regions of the world.

Table 1: Chinese Immigrants in Canada by Origin and Intended Destination, 1980-2000

Table 2: Chinese Immigrants in Canada by Immigration Class and Origin, 1980-2000

Immigration classMainland China Hong Kong Taiwan Vietnam Total Chinese

Total Immigrants

No. %* No. %* No. %* No. %* No. %* %*

Economic** 106400 48.2 206870 56.9 75653 80.1 110 0.3 430592 54.0 37.9

1980s 2252 6.9 65523 62.8 8008 77.8 73 0.2 91671 42.7

1990s 104148 55.4 141347 54.5 67645 82.0 37 0.5 338921 58.1

Skilled workers & Professionals

97005 44.0 83847 23.0 25064 26.7 72 0.2 231049 29.0 27.2

Self-employed 1063 0.5 7517 2.1 3952 4.2 3 <0.1 14611 1.8 1.7

Entrepreneur & Investor 7765 3.5 89594 24.6 41938 44.7 2 <0.1 152124 19.1 6.8

Family 103050 46.7 156671 43.1 18099 19.3 22786 55.3 330763 41.5 46.2

1980s 30256 92.6 38576 37.0 3293 29.1 16431 48.6 100124 46.6

1990s 72794 38.7 118095 45.5 14806 18.0 6355 86.3 230639 39.6

Family member 78101 35.4 99275 27.3 8765 9.3 14450 35.1 220900 27.7 36.2

Assisted relatives 24949 11.3 57396 15.8 9334 10.0 8336 20.2 109863 13.8 10.0

 

Humanitarian 11195 5.1 334 0.1 23 <0.1 18279 44.4 36298 4.6 16.0

1980s 158 0.5 258 0.2 14 0.1 17311 51.2 22995 10.7

1990s 11037 5.9 76 <0.1 9 <0.1 968 13.2 13303 2.3

Refugee & DORC*** 978 4.5 54 <0.1 12 <0.1 280 0.7 10681 1.3 8.7

Designated class**** 1217 0.6 280 0.1 11 <0.1 17999 43.7 25617 3.2 7.3

Educational qualificationMainland China Hong Kong Taiwan Vietnam Total Chinese

Total Immigrants

No. %* No. %* No. %* No. %* No. %* %*

No education 26119 11.8 35276 9.7 9256 9.9 6541 15.9 88032 11.0 11.9

1980s 5027 15.4 12257 11.7 1100 9.7 5722 16.9 29244 13.6

1990s 21092 11.2 23019 8.9 8156 9.9 819 11.1 58788 10.1

Secondary or less 87094 39.5 208229 57.2 45089 48.1 33358 81.1 413139 51.8 51.9

1980s 20199 61.9 50210 48.1 5611 49.6 26952 79.8 120901 56.3

1990s 66895 35.6 158019 60.9 39478 47.9 6406 87.0 292238 50.1

Trade certificate/ diploma/ some univ. (no degree)

36505 16.5 79913 21.7 19199 20.5 1162 2.9 148099 18.6 18.8

1980s 5779 17.7 28704 27.4 2812 24.8 1039 3.1 43617 20.4

1990s 30726 16.4 50209 19.4 16387 20 123 1.7 104482 17.9

Bachelor 46334 21.0 34146 9.3 14855 15.8 76 0.2 106275 13.3 13.3

1980s 1157 3.5 10781 10.3 1425 12.6 65 0.2 17015 8.0

1990s 45177 24.0 23365 9.0 13430 16.3 11 0.1 89260 15.3

Masters 19713 8.9 6646 1.8 4646 5.0 10 0 34363 4.3 3.2

1980s 295 0.9 2160 2.1 281 2.5 9 0 3255 1.5

1990s 19418 10.3 4486 1.7 4365 5.3 1 0 31108 5.3

Doctorate 4844 2.2 639 0.2 727 0.8 4 0 7599 1.0 0.9

1980s 185 0.6 226 0.2 83 0.7 4 0 631 0.3

1990s 4659 2.5 413 0.2 644 0.8 0 0 6968 1.2

Table 3: Chinese Immigrants in Canada by Educational Qualifications and Origin, 1980-2000

Table 4: Chinese Immigrants in Canada by Canadian Official-Language Proficiency and Origin, 1980-2000

Canadian Language

Mainland China Hong Kong Taiwan Vietnam Total Chinese Total Immigrants

No.%*

No.%*

No.%*

No.%*

No.%

* %*

English 76278 34.6 177416 48.8 33396 35.6 1901 4.6 332204 41 47.9

1980s 2947 9.0 50641 48.5 3603 31.8 1315 3.9 75445 35

1990s 73331 39.0 126775 48.9 29793 36.1 586 8.0 256759 44

French 638 0.3 258 0.1 70 0.1 224 0.5 2339 0.3 4.4

1980s 28 0.1 136 0.1 18 0.2 205 0.6 1043 0.5

1990s 610 0.3 122 <0.1 52 0.1 19 0.3 1296 0.2

Bilingual 1112 0.5 926 0.3 183 0.2 130 0.3 3750 0.5 3.7

1980s 74 0.2 338 0.3 46 0.4 111 0.3 1248 0.6

1990s 1038 0.6 588 0.2 137 0.2 19 0.3 25.2 0.4

Neither 142613 64.6 185266 50.9 60124 64.1 38915 94.5 459327 57 43.9

1980s 29613 90.7 53233 51.0 7646 67.6 32179 95.2 137021 63

1990s 113000 60.1 132033 50.9 52478 63.6 6736 91.5 322306 55

Table 5 Average Income of Chinese Immigrants and as Percentage of Income of the Canadian General Population*, 1999 ($)

Total income Employment income Self-employment income Investment income

Chinese

% of general popula

tion

Chinese

% of general popula

tion

Chinese% of general

population

Chinese

% of general popula

tion

All ages &both sexes

14,97449

22,15670

7,50284

4,088163

By age groups

15 – 19 2,964 42 4,019 77 4,626 115 2,161 278

20 – 24 7,417 52 10,532 84 4,194 87 2,419 419

25 – 44 18,765 57 24,438 83 7,836 78 2,817 288

45 – 64 15,804 41 22,782 66 7,390 57 5,218 223

65 + 4,321 17 9,904 57 5,871 139 6,899 159

By sex

Male 17,922 47 25,518 77 8,267 78 4,269 178

Female 12,046 52 18,334 87 6,406 98 3,920 153

Table 6: Average Income of Chinese Immigrants by Immigration Class, 1999 ($)

Immigration class Total incomeEmployment

incomeSelf-employment

incomeInvestment

income

Economic 20,453 28,897 7,768 4,991

Skilled workers/ Professionals

24,939 31,678 8,056 2,699

Self-employed 13,107 19,009 8,136 5,482

Entrepreneur/investors 13,005 18,017 7,100 7,395

Family 13,825 21,821 7,757 3,570

Family members 12,008 20,587 7,934 3,633

Assisted relatives 18,531 24,091 7,411 3,437

Humanitarian 17,743 23,262 6,452 1,667

Refugee/DORC* 12,275 14,914 6,084 1,464

Designated class** 20,891 28,100 6,838 1,778

Table 7 Average Income of Chinese Immigrants by Education Qualification and Canadian

Languages Ability, 1999 ($)

EducationTotal income

Employment income

Self-employment income

Investment income

Secondary or less 11,717 17,936 6,664 3,952

Some post-secondary (with no degree) 16,936 24,129 7,519 4,534

Bachelor 19,743 27,621 9,040 4,170

Master's 26,322 34,141 8,047 3,090

Doctorate 34,656 42,140 9,430 3,018

Languages Ability

English 19,879 27,136 8,175 4,186

French 18,463 24,125 9,119 2,864

English and French 25,894 31,816 13,178 2,982

Neither 10,901 17,097 6,363 4,014

Table 8 Average Income of Chinese Immigrants by Destination, 1999 ($)

Destination Total incomeEmployment

incomeSelf-employment

incomeInvestment

income

Toronto 16,098 23,498 8,413 4,074

Vancouver 12,365 18,789 6,102 4,692

Montreal 10,872 16,766 7,008 2,665

Canada 14,974 22,150 7,502 4,088

Figure 2 Comprison of Total Income among Chinese Immigrants by Origin, 1999

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Year of Landing

Inco

me (

$)

Mainland Taiwan HK Vietnam

Canadian average: $30,448

Figure 3 Comparison of Employment Income among Chinese Immigrants by Origin, 1999

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Year of Landing

Inco

me

($)

Mainland Taiwan HK Vietnam

Canadian average: $31,712

Concluding Remarks (1)

The 2001 census once again points to the importance of immigration for Canada. It has been projected that there could be a deficit of one million skilled workers in Canada in the next 10-20 years. Chinese immigrants make an important contribution to fulfilling Canada’s immigration goals and needs.

Concluding Remarks (2)

In the past two decades, the number of Chinese immigrants to Canada increased significantly, and their composition changed considerably.

Since 1997, Hong Kong has no longer been a main point of origin, and immigrants from both Taiwan and Vietnam have been on decline. In the meantime, those from Mainland China have been increasing steadily, making Mainland China the largest single source of Chinese immigrants. In the near future, it is expected that most new Chinese immigrants to Canada will continue to come from Mainland China.

Concluding Remarks (3)

In addition to the shift in origin, there have been other important changes in the composition: Economic immigrants have been on the rise The proportions of both family immigrants and humanitarian

immigrants have declined. The rising number, as well as proportion, of economic immigrants

has been accompanied by an increase in both educational qualifications and Canadian language proficiency.

Recent Chinese immigrants also have been younger, with nearly half in the age group of 25-44, the most productive years in their life.

All these changes have meant that the recent Chinese immigrants have brought with them increased human capital, and Canada has been gaining higher-quality workers by admitting Chinese immigrants into this country.

Concluding Remarks (4)

Despite their increased human capital, Chinese immigrants still have experienced very different economic outcomes in the Canadian labor market.

Concluding Remarks (5)

Figure 2 Comprison of Total Income among Chinese Immigrants by Origin, 1999

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Year of Landing

Inco

me (

$)

Mainland Taiwan HK Vietnam

Canadian average: $30,448

Figure 3 Comparison of Employment Income among Chinese Immigrants by Origin, 1999

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Year of Landing

Inco

me

($)

Mainland Taiwan HK Vietnam

Canadian average: $31,712