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Why is Immigrants’ Access to Employment lower in Montreal than in Toronto?

Author

Listed:
  • Gilles Grenier

    (Department of Economics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON)

  • Serge Nadeau

    (Department of Economics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON)

Abstract

This paper explores reasons why the employment rate gap between immigrants and Canadian born individuals is larger in Montreal than in Toronto. A major reason is language: relative to Canadian born individuals, immigrants in Montreal are significantly less likely to know French than their Toronto counterparts to know English and their knowledge of French is less rewarded by employers than their Toronto counterparts’ knowledge of English. We also find that holding other factors constant, the performance of immigrants according to their countries of origin is remarkably similar in Montreal and Toronto: in both metropolitan areas, immigrants from Europe and India generally perform better than immigrants from China, Taiwan and Muslim countries. While we do not find any evidence that Quebec’s different immigration policy is causing the larger immigrant employment rate gap in Montreal, we cannot rule out the possibility that immigrants would be subject to more labour market discrimination in Montreal than in Toronto. However, this discrimination would be French language related as opposed to being ethnicity related. Results are generally similar for both male and female immigrants.

Suggested Citation

  • Gilles Grenier & Serge Nadeau, 2010. "Why is Immigrants’ Access to Employment lower in Montreal than in Toronto?," Working Papers 1005E, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ott:wpaper:1005e
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    File URL: http://sciencessociales.uottawa.ca/economics/sites/socialsciences.uottawa.ca.economics/files/1005E.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Nong Zhu & Cecile Batisse, 2014. "L'immigration et le triangle « croissance, inégalités et pauvreté »: une analyse du revenu du ménage," CIRANO Working Papers 2014s-12, CIRANO.
    2. Zhu, Nong & Batisse, Cécile, 2011. "L’inégalité, la pauvreté et l’intégration économique des immigrants au Canada depuis les années quatre-vingt-dix," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 87(3), pages 227-268, septembre.
    3. Nong Zhu & Cecile Batisse, 2014. "L'inégalité, la pauvreté et l'intégration économique des immigrants au Canada depuis les années 1990," CIRANO Working Papers 2014s-10, CIRANO.
    4. Brahim Boudarbat, 2011. "Labour market integration of immigrants in Quebec: a comparison with Ontario and British Columbia," CIRANO Project Reports 2011rp-09, CIRANO.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Différences de taux d'emploi; immigrants versus personnes nées au Canada; Montréal et Toronto; politiques d'immigration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General

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