Immigrant–non‐immigrant wage differentials in Canada: A comparison between standard and non‐standard jobs
| Published date | 01 October 2021 |
| Author | Danielle Lamb,Rupa Banerjee,Anil Verma |
| Date | 01 October 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12808 |
International Migration. 2021;59:113–133.
|
113
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
Received: 1 Janu ary 2020
|
Revised: 26 Septem ber 2020
|
Accepted: 11 Novembe r 2020
DOI: 10 .1111/imig .12808
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Immigrant–non-immigrant wage differentials in
Canada: A comparison between standard and non-
standard jobs
Danielle Lamb1| Rupa Banerjee1| Anil Verma2
© 2021 The Author s. Internationa l Migration © 2021 IOM
1Ted Rogers School of Ma nagement,
Ryerson Uni versity, Toronto, ON, Can ada
2Centre for Ind ustrial Relation s and
Human, Resou rces and Rotman Scho ol
of Management , University of Toronto,
Toronto, ON, Cana da
Correspondence
Danielle La mb, Ted Rogers School of
Management , Ryerson Univers ity, Toronto,
ON, Canada .
Email: danielle.lamb@ryerson.ca
Abstract
It is well e stablished th at recent immigrants e arn consid-
erably l ess than their native-born counterpar ts even after
adjusting fo r differences in hu man capital. Anot her labour
market tre nd has been the growth in non-standa rd forms
of employment. Since non-stan dard forms of work are
generally less desirable than standard jobs on a number
of dimensions including earn ings, this st udy examines t he
nexus between immigrant earnings and non-standard em-
ployment to investigate if the re is a systemic connection
between the two t rends. Consistent with earlier research
evi denc e, we fi nd a sub sta ntia l earn ings disad vant age a sso-
ciated with all forms of non-standar d work relative to full-
time, permanent employment. Conditioning on observable
characterist ics, immigrant s are l ess likely to be employed
in full-time, permanent work. However, wh en we examine
workers in non-standard jobs, we find that immigrant–non-
immigrant earnings g aps are smaller than those obser ved
among workers in standard jobs. More over, the unadjusted
mean earnings of long-term immigrants in par t-time jobs
are actuall y higher than the earning s of similarly employed
Canadian-born workers. Finally, considering immigrants
from Western and non-Western countries, we find that the
earnings disa dvantage of non-Western immigra nts in non-
standard jobs is smaller than the e arnings disadvantage of
non-Western i mmigrants in standard job s. These findings
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LAMB etAL.
INTRODUCTION
Current concerns ove r growing economic inequalit y are well supported by evidence. The f act that labour markets
are becoming increasingly insecure for many workers even as incomes have grown for managers and profession-
als has been widely documented. B y some account s, non-stan dard forms of employment su ch as part-time and
temporar y (i.e. fixed term) work can be as high as one-third of all jobs (Busby & Muthukumaran , 2016, 4). In recent
decades, new immigra nts have arrived to find that a large number of employment opportu nities accessible to them
are non-standard forms of employment. However, empirical research on how the growth in non-standard employ-
ment has affec ted immigrants’ integr ation into the labour market ha s not received equal attent ion.
Broadly stated , this study proposes to examine the role that non-s tandard employment may play in facilit ating
(or hinderin g) integration of immigrants into the Canadian labour market. It is generally accepted that n on-stan-
dard employment is less desirable than standard employment even though some workers may accept non-stan-
dard work in order to accomm odate other personal prior ities such as caregiving, ed ucation and training, or sim ply
enjoy the flexib ility that non-stan dard employ ment may provide. Since non-s tandard wo rk is often vi ewed as
less desi rable, it is possible that immigrants would be overreprese nted in this type of empl oyment. Native-bor n
workers may b e reluctant to t ake non-standard jo bs given the lower pay, fe wer benefits and greater uncertain ty
in hours of wor k, to name only a few char acteristics of suc h employment. What is l ess obvious about immi grants
taking no n-standard jobs is whether imm igrant earnings in non-standard employment would have the same dis-
count that previous stu dies have foun d in the ove rall labour market. At fi rst glance, if one extr apolates earnin g
patterns from st andard employment, we may exp ect immigrants to earn less , all else being equal, in non-sta ndard
employment as well. Wh ile there is some evidence from a previous s tudy on ‘precarious’ jobs, less is kn own about
the different typ es of non-standard employment (Hir a-Friesen, 2018b). It is possible that within the labour market
the supp ly of immigran t labour and employers’ dem and for flexi ble workers cr eates the con ditions for a unique
matching. Emp loyers want flexib ility and lower cost (Houseman, 2003), while immi grants want jobs that will not
only bri ng much need ed income, b ut also a c hance to add Canadian qu alifications to their resume. This type of
matching could be a win-wi n for both sides and employers may jus t be willing to pay the same earning s for similar
work. Addi tionally, this ty pe of matching wo uld be especia lly suited to ne w immigrants’ n eeds because they are
under pressure to accept any employment that can begin to bring in even a sub sistence incom e. If t he labour
market were tight (i.e. an expanding eco nomy and low unemployment), employers may even be forced to compete
for sc arce immigrant workers, thus raising the ear nings necessa ry to a ttract th e best workers. If non-standard
employment, then, serves as a conduit for immigr ants, par ticularly recent immi grants (e.g . Fuller, 2011; Fuller
and Stecy-Hildebrandt 2014), then there is relatively less worry over the existence and distribution of non-stan-
dard employment. If, on the other hand, non-standard employment creates a secondary labour market wherein
participants are ‘trapped’ in undesirable employment, the prevalence of non-standard work and the potential
overrepresent ation of immig rants in th ese forms of employment, is cause for greater concern . Accordingly, this
suggest that non-st andard jobs provide a point of entry for
many new immigrants into the Canadian labour market.
But whether these job s are a b ridge to upward mobility
or whether the y act as tr aps from which immigrants a re
unable to escape is a question that n eeds to be ans wered
with better longitudinal data that track specific coho rts of
workers.
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