The economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the integration outcomes of immigrants – both recent immigrants and established immigrants in Canada. In general, these groups are more negatively affected by the COVID-19 crisis than those born in Canada, and these disparities create additional barriers to the integration process. Tracking the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on immigrants relative to the Canadian-born population with empirical evidence and incorporating this into the CIMI is especially critical. In order to explore this, two analyses have been conducted.
In the first analysis Impact of Covid-19 on Canadians – Crowdsourcing Data, data from the Statistics Canada crowdsourcing surveys was used to test the feasibility of building an index to analyze gaps between immigrants and non-immigrants. We attempted to match crowdsourcing data to some of the CIMI indicators and dimensions, looking at gaps between immigrants and non-immigrants across identity markers such as sex and visible minority status.
You may download this report from the link below.
The second analysis was focused on the CIMI economic dimension. Data from Statistics Canada’s 2019 and 2020 Labour Force Surveys was used to demonstrate how COVID-19 has affected the economic outcomes of immigrants, both recent and established.
Please use the drop-down menu below to access data from our second analysis. This will allow you to view information related to how Canada and its regions perform when immigrant economic outcomes are compared from one year prior to the COVID-19 crisis (2019), to during the COVID-19 crisis (2020). National level data includes the entire Canadian population. The data on this page is limited to the regions listed below due to sample size limitations.
Canada
Data below is based on the monthly Labour Force Surveys collected from January 2019 to December 2020.
Below you will find 1) CIMI Ranking/ Adjusted Data and 2) Unadjusted Data.
The weekly wage gap between immigrants and the Canadian-born population in Canada has grown over the past two years. In 2019, the estimated wage gap was $108, and by 2020 this gap had grown to an estimated $118 when accounting for socio-demographic differences. There was also a slight change in the wage gap between recent and established immigrants in the year prior to and during the pandemic. While in 2019, the estimated gap was $127, in 2020, it was $128.
The weekly wage gap between immigrants and the Canadian-born population in Canada has grown over the past two years. In 2019, the estimated wage gap was $39, and by 2020 this gap had grown to an estimated $59 when accounting for socio-demographic differences. There was also a slight change in the weekly wage gap between recent and established immigrants in the year prior to and during the pandemic. While in 2019, the estimated gap was $23, in 2020, it was $26.
From 2019 to 2020, there has been a downward trend in labour force participation among immigrants relative to the Canadian-born population. In the year prior to the pandemic, immigrants were 7.5% more likely to participate in the labour force compared to the Canadian-born population, whereas in 2020, they were 8.6% less likely. The gap between recent and established immigrants was smaller. During both years, recent immigrants were less likely to participate in the labour force (3.5% in 2019 and 6.6% in 2020) when accounting for socio-demographic differences.
In 2019, immigrants had higher employment rates than the Canadian-born population 5.2% higher likelihood. In the year when the pandemic started, however, the employment gap went in the opposite direction, with immigrants having a 14% lesser employment rate than the Canadian-born population when accounting for socio-demographic differences. There were no changes in the gap between recent and established immigrants. During both years, established immigrants had a 7.3% higher likelihood.
There was an upward trend in the year prior to and during the pandemic in the unemployment rate for immigrants compared to Canadian-born. In 2019, immigrants were 1.5% less likely to be unemployed, whereas in 2020, they were 21.9% more likely to be unemployed when accounting for socio-demographic differences. An opposite trend can be seen when recent, and established immigrants are compared. In the year prior to the pandemic, established immigrants were 13.6% less likely to be unemployed, whereas in 2020 they were 7% less likely.
After accounting for socio-demographic differences, immigrants in Canada generally have lower full-time employment rates than the Canadian-born population, which holds true both prior to and during the pandemic. In 2019, the Canadian-born population was 9.9% more likely to secure full-time employment than immigrants. A similar trend can be seen among recent and established immigrants. Established immigrants were 2.5% more likely to be full-time employed in 2019 and 3.7% in 2020 compared to recent immigrants.
See below for the breakdown of immigrants, recent and established, and the Canadian-born population in this region. Any blank in the chart indicates that the data is unavailable/statistically insignificant. Please note that the data below does not control for socio-demographic characteristics, unlike our rankings above.
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Without accounting for socio-demographic differences, the wage gap between immigrants and the Canadian-born population has grown since the COVID-19 crisis. In December 2019, the gap was $78, but by December 2020, it increased to $112. The gap between established and recent immigrants was larger ($138 in December 2019), but has stayed almost the same, $130 in December 2020.
Note: All wages seen here are before Consumer Price Index (CPI) adjustment
Median weekly wages (part-time workers)
Without accounting for socio-demographic differences: in December 2019, part-time immigrant workers earned $20 more than their Canadian-born counterparts. During the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, the gap varied and by December, the Canadian-born population earned more than immigrants ($14). Established immigrants were the group that had the highest wage during these two years compared to others. However, the gap between them and recent immigrants did not change. It was the same in December 2019 and December 2020 ($40).
Note: All wages seen here are before Consumer Price Index (CPI) adjustment.
Labour force participation
Without accounting for socio-demographic differences, recent immigrants have been less likely to participate in the labour force than established immigrants in general. Labour force participation was over 75% for all groups until the impact of COVID-19 was felt in Canada in April 2020, where there was a significant drop. However, by June 2020, this bounced back and gaps remained relatively small across all survey months for all groups (less than 5%).
Employment rate
Without accounting for socio-demographic differences, recent immigrants were generally less likely to be employed than those who were established. The biggest gap between these two groups was in April 2020 (6.4%) and the smallest in October 2020 (3.1%). The difference between immigrants and Canadian-born population remained relatively small across all survey months prior to and during the pandemic (less than 4%). There was a significant fall in the employment rate across all groups in the three-month period from February to April 2020; the largest was among recent immigrants (12.7%).
Unemployment rate
Without accounting for socio-demographic differences, recent immigrants were more likely to be unemployed than established immigrants in general; this gap was largest towards the beginning of the pandemic in May 2020 (4.6%). In 2019, the gap between immigrants and the Canadian-born population consistently remained around 0.5%. A significant shift in the unemployment rate was seen from February to June 2020, when it went up by more than 7% points (10.3% for recent immigrants).
Full-time employment rate
Without accounting for socio-demographic differences, immigrants were more likely to be employed full-time than the Canadian-born population during this two-year period. This trend reduced slightly over the duration of COVID-19 pandemic (from 2.5% in December 2019 to 1.2% in December 2020). These gaps have consistently remained around 2% for immigrants and the Canadian-born, and 3% for recent and established immigrants.