Syed Ather Hussain Akbari

Purpose: This study analyzes returns to education and post-schooling labour market experiences of visible minority immigrants in Atlantic Canada, in comparison to the national labour market in Canada, at the outbreak of COVID_19 pandemic in 2020. It also compares the earnings of visible minority immigrants with non-visible minority immigrants. A review of government policy initiatives to attract and retain immigrants in Atlantic Canada is also undertaken to provide the context.Design/methodology/approach: After reviewing some major government policy initiatives in Atlantic Canada to attract and retain immigrants, the study presents some descriptive statistical analysis, followed by an econometric analysis based on the estimation of a human capital earning function using microdata obtained from the 2021 Census Public Use Microdata File.Findings: Deliberate government policy measures, that also support community initiatives, have resulted in rising numbers of new immigrant arrivals settling in smaller provinces of Canada, such as those in Atlantic Canada. The labour market returns to human capital of immigrants in Atlantic Canada were not different from those nationally in 2020 which was the year when COVID-19 virus outbreak took place. Earning disadvantage of visible minority immigrants was lower in Atlantic Canada than nationally. Labour market in Atlantic Canada continued to complement the roles of governments and communities in regionalization of immigration.Research limitations/implications: This study could not compare recipients of Canada Emergency Relief Benefit with non-recipients.Practical implications: The complementarity of the roles of labour markets, governments and community organizations in the attraction and retention of immigrants in smaller areas of host nations.Social implications: The economic integration of newcomers in non-traditional destinations of immigrants and visible minorities.Originality/value: This is original research conducted by the authors.

Using the Canadian Census of 2016 and restricting the sample to the Canadian‐born millennials, this paper is concerned with ethnoracial disparities in adult children's coresidence with their parents. Substantial disparities are found in the prevalence of intergenerational coresidence by race and ethnic origin. Rather surprisingly, Canadian‐born millennials of Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent are found the least likely to coreside with their parents than their counterparts in other ethnoracial groups. There is little gender difference in this regard. Further exploration shows that millennials of Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent are much more likely than others to be geographically mobile across Canada, and this greater mobility drives the gaps. In other words, the lower intergenerational coresidence among Canadian millennials of Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent also implies a lower intergenerational proximity among these groups. Future implications of the findings for local labour and housing markets, as well as the healthcare system, are discussed in light of the Confucian concept of filial piety.

For the past two decades, most immigrants who arrived in the advanced nations of the western world originated in less advanced countries of the third world. One of the main barriers to their economic integration, as viewed in the public circles of host nations, is the lack of recognition of their educational credentials based on which the suitability of using education as a signal of labour market success of immigrants can be questioned. Canada is a major immigrant-receiving country whose reliance on immigration to meet shortages of skilled labour has increased, especially in its smaller provinces and rural areas. Using a production function approach, this study explores the degree of substitutability of educational credentials of immigrant and native-born labour. It analyses customized data, based on 2001 Canadian census, for 256 census divisions. While immigrant workers in all educational groups are imperfect substitutes for native-born, those with a university degree are the weakest substitutes. However, the value of elasticity of substitution between immigrant and native-born workers is high in all cases, indicating that immigrants are easy to absorb in Canadian labour force regardless of their educational attainment.