Caribbean Immigrants in Britain and Canad: Socio‐economic Adjustment*
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.1988.tb00658.x |
| Date | 01 October 1988 |
| Author | A.H. Richmond |
| Published date | 01 October 1988 |
Caribbean Immigrants in Britain and Canada:
Socio-econom
ic
Adjust
men
t
*
A.H. RICHMOND**
After the United States, Britain and Canada were the most important destinations of
West Indian migrants who formed part of the ‘Caribbean exodus’. Following the
McCarran Act, 1952, the U.
S.
ceased to be open to West Indian migration for more than
a decade and the United Kingdom became the preferred destination during the 1950’s.
The year 1962 was a critical one because at this time the door into Britain began to close
and entry to Canada, which had hitherto been quite restricted
for
Caribbean workers and
their families, began to open more widely. The purpose of this paper is to compare the
socio-economic experience of Caribbean immigrants in the two countries and to show
how differing immigration trends, together with changing economic circumstances,
influenced the processes of integration.
Between 195
1
and 196
1,
Caribbean gross migration to Britain ranged from 2,000 up to
74,590, but there was some re-migration and return,
so
that net gains were not as large
(Peach, 1968). The census of 196
1
estimated
a
West Indian horn population of 174,000.
Following the imposition of controls, immigration from the Caribbean declined in the
following two decades, with some net loss in the
mid-1970’s.
Census figures showed the
Caribbean-born population (including Guyana) in the United Kingdom as 304,000 in
197
I
declining to 295,000 in 198
1.
The major source country was Jamaica. West Indian
Migration to Canada, prior to 196
1,
was only between
1,000
and 1,200 annually until the
restrictions
on
non-European immigration were lifted
in
1962. The numbers admitted
annually increased to a maximum of 28,600 in 1974 and then declined again. The
number reached in the 197
1
census was 106,000 rising to 21 1,205 (including Guyana)
in
1981. The major source countries were Jamaica and Haiti. It follows that, at its
maximum, the Caribbean-born population was approximately 0.6
96
of the population of
Britain compared with
0.81
of that of Canada. However, there was a growing ‘second
generation’ in Britain, estimated at more than 274,000 in 1981, whereas the
*
This paper was first presented at a Workshop
on
the Caribbean Diaspora, Institute
for
Commonwealth Studies, University
of
London, June 1987.
I
am indebted to Statistics Canada
for
providing special tabulations from the 1981 census.
I
am entirely responsible
for
any
interpretation
of
these data.
**
Department
of
Sociology,
York
University (Canada).
365
Canadian-born of Caribbean parentage probably numbered about
50,000
at that
time.
One important difference between Caribbean immigrants in Britain and Canada
concerned education. There was little occupational selectivity in the former case.
Although there were a few professionally trained people, including doctors, nurses and
teachers, the majority were unskilled
or
skilled manual and service workers. Brown
(1 984: 144-46) showed that most of the adult migrants left school at 16 years
or
younger
and that more than
80%
over 44 years had no qualifications. Using slightly different
criteria, a more recent survey by the Department of Employment estimated that two
thirds of the older generation had no qualifications (Employment Gazette, 1987). In
contrast, Canada deliberately selected well qualified immigrants, although there was
some relaxation of criteria in the case of those admitted in the 1970's. Consequently, in
198
1
more than half the Caribbean-born men and over a third of the women had some
post-secondary education. Although there was some decline in the educational levels of
those arriving after 1971, the overall level of education was higher than that of the
Canadian-born population.
ECONOMIC TRENDS
Between 1951 and 1981 Britain and Canada both experienced major structural changes
in the economy similar to those which occurred in other advanced industrial societies. In
the immediate postwar period there was a time of recovery and economic growth which
generated considerable shortages of labour in various industries. Immigrants helped to
meet these shortages in both countries, although Britain experienced net losses of
population through migration, whereas Canada pursued
a
positive immigration policy
and, consequently, substantial net growth despite falling birth rates.
In the 197O's, a combination of global economic factors, including the energy crisis,
inflation, foreign competition and world recession had
a
devastating effect on Britain's
economy, particularly the manufacturing sector. This was aggravated by the
'post-industrial' revolution which brought technological change and created further
redundancies. Canada's economy also suffered
as
a result of the global oil crisis and
growing unemployment. However, unlike Britain, the total employed labour force
continued to expand
as
the young adults of the 'baby-boom' era matured, female labour
force participation rates increased and immigrants continued to arrive.
Up to 196
1
the British labour force was growing, but in the following two decades there
was as significant decline in the total number of persons in employment, notwithstanding
increased female labour force participation and growth of part-time work. Employees
numbered 22.23 million in 1961,22.12 million in 197
1
and were down to 2 1.30 millon in
198
1.
In line with global 'post-industrial' developments, the decline was greatest in the
primary and secondary sectors of industry, although the service sector grew over this
period. Agriculture, fishing, mining and quarrying all experienced
a
more than
5Ooh
decrease in the size of the labour force while the manufacturing sector declined by 29%
between 1961 and 1971. Although the service sector as a whole grew by 29%,
transportation (in which many Caribbean immigrants were employed) declined by 14%.
At the same time the professional and scientific sectors grew by 77% in twenty years!
Although the overall decline in the number of employed persons was 2.4%, there was an
1 1
%
decline in the number of males working full time in 198
1,
compared with twenty
years earlier. There were marked regional variations with London and the Southeast
maintaining growth while other regions experienced economic decline.
In
contrast with the British experience, Canada's labour force grew steadily from
5
million in 195
1
to 6.5 million in 196
1,
8.6 million in 197 1 to more than 13 million in
366
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