Metropolis - Toronto Centre of Excellence

1998 RFP FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS

A. Economic Domain

1. Employment Barriers Experienced by Chinese Immigrant Women in the GTA

Research team (lead researcher, partners):

Valerie Preston, Department of Geography, York University

Danny Mui, Chinese Information and Community Services, York Region Office,

Markville Shopping Centre

Maisie Lo, Manager, Immigrant Services and School Programs, Woodgreen Community Centre

Start date: September 1998

Date of completion: September 1999

Amount awarded from CERIS: $19,640

Abstract:

This study examined the employment barriers experienced by Chinese immigrant women in the GTA. The work histories and earnings of middle-class women who had immigrated from Hong Kong were compared with those of women who had immigrated from China. A quantitative analysis of women's wages assessing the effects of human capital was also completed. Both groups of women are well educated compared with earlier groups of immigrant women. Having worked in their countries of origin, the women arrive in Toronto expecting to work; however, both groups experienced rapid downward mobility in the Toronto labour market. Unfamiliar with the job market in Toronto and lacking Canadian experience, many women find that Canadian employers do not value their credentials and work experience in Hong Kong and China. Women from China and Hong Kong also think that they need more fluency in English to compete successfully for jobs. Domestic responsibilities constrain the women's job searches and employment. Many women have difficulty coordinating their domestic responsibilities with employment schedules and language training courses. Commenting on the benefits of living within the Chinese-Canadian community in Toronto, several women commented that the mutual aid and familiarity associated with living in a residential concentration with other immigrants become a disadvantage over time as there were few opportunities to practice English. Their difficulties entering the job market crystalize in lower-than-average wages for all women from Hong Kong and China. Overall, the findings confirm that immigrant women are having difficulty translating human capital in the form of education, qualifications, and work experience gained overseas into appropriate and remunerative employment in the Toronto labour market. The reasons for their difficulties are complex. Accreditation is an issue for some women, but others face different challenges, particularly women from Hong Kong who had been administrators and managers.

Nature of research collaboration:

This research could not have been completed without the collaboration of two community partners, Woodgreen Community Centre of Toronto and Chinese Information and Community Services, well established agencies that are knowledgeable about the employment experiences of their clients and communities. Community partners will be asked to comment on the proposed quantitative analysis, to identify participants in the focus groups and interviews, to help interpret the focus group transcripts, to comment on the interview results, and to advise on dissemination within their communities.

Interdisciplinary collaboration is also essential. As lead researcher, Valerie Preston, who has expertise in gender and urban labour markets and quantitative methods, supervised completion of the entire project with specific responsibility for the quantitative analysis and shared responsibility for interpreting the focus group and interview transcripts. With expertise in the sociology of immigration and the family and qualitative methods, Dr. Man supervised the focus groups and interviews, completed some interviews, and ensured successful and accurate transcription and translation. Student research assistants were hired; one Mandarin-speaking and the second Cantonese-speaking, to assist with focus groups and interviews, and a third to help with the quantitative analysis. Community researchers helped recruit women for the focus groups and interviews.

Contribution to training and/or professional development:

Two Masters students; Yuen Chu from the Geography Graduate Program and Wen Zhao from the History Graduate Program have worked as research assistants. They assisted with arranging the focus groups, recruiting participants, facilitating focus groups, and transcribing and translating focus group tapes. The experience provided both students with essential practical knowledge of qualitative research. Dr. Guida Man worked as a postdoctoral student supervising the research assistants, acting as liaison with the community agencies, and designing the focus groups.

Conclusions and policy implications of work:

The analysis relies on two very different types of information: aggregate census data and individual stories. The level of aggregation of the census data do not allow direct assessment of the women’s explanations for their experiences in the labour market. For example, the census data do not indicate whether postgraduate degrees were obtained in Canada. The small sample size also made it difficult to evaluate the effects of period of immigration. Nevertheless, there are several important implications for policy.

Statistical analysis of census data confirms that immigrant women are earning less than their Canadian-born counterparts. The wage differential is surprising because of the high levels of human capital with which women from Hong Kong and China arrive. In their work histories, the women identified several types of human capital that were necessary for a successful job search and several additional challenges to finding appropriate and remunerative employment.

Although accreditation is an issue for some women, recognition of prior work experience is equally important, particularly for women from Hong Kong. Some formal method of recognizing prior work experience similar to the qualifications assessment programs that have been established in Quebec and other provinces is needed. Alternatively, internships by which women might establish the value of their prior experience on the job and gain invaluable Canadian experience would be helpful.

Embedded in the work histories of many women from Hong Kong and China is a damning critique of current language and training policies. Even women from Hong Kong who can afford to enrol in language and educational courses have difficulty finding courses that fit with their domestic responsibilities. For women from China, enrollment in courses is a luxury that they cannot afford without training allowances. Both groups of women would benefit from more sophisticated language training that would satisfy the increasing language requirements in Toronto’s knowledge-based economy.

The findings from this research project confirm the importance of exploring how employers evaluate work experience. Repeatedly, studies of immigrants’ integration in Canadian labour markets have confirmed that employers place a premium on Canadian experience when assessing job applicants. Yet in some industries such as high-tech, employers value specific immigrants’ foreign work experience. Additional research determining the specific competencies that employers seek is needed.

In sum, the research has confirmed that immigrant women from Hong Kong and China are earning less than Canadian-born women despite high levels of education and occupational status. In-depth interviews identified several labour market challenges facing immigrant women that range from accreditation issues, employers’ unwillingness to value foreign experience, and limited proficiency in English. The labour market challenges are heightened by women’s domestic roles and their residential locations. The complex interrelations between labour market challenges, women’s domestic roles, and residential location call for coordinated policy responses rather than the current patchwork of settlement services.

Dissemination:

Conferences: Preliminary results from this project were presented at the Annual Meetings of the

American Association of Geographers, Hawaii, 1999, the Fourth International Metropolis meeting, Washington, 1999, and the Canadian Association of Geographers, St. Catherines, 2000.

- Findings have also been presented at various seminars in the Departments of Geography at the University of Toronto, McMaster University, and York University.

- Valerie Preston participated in a workshop devoted to women’s issues and assessment at a national conference entitled Qualification Recognition in the 21^st Century. The presentation was the subject of a subsequent article in The Toronto Star.

- V. Preston (2000) “Examining Immigrant Women’s Access to Employment: Canadian and American Studies” - Conference Proceedings, the Applied Uses of Census Place of Work Data Conference (Mississauga, Ontario)

- 2001 “Gender, Employment and Immigration: A Synopsis,” with Evie Tatsoglou invited presentation, Fifth National Metropolis Conference (Ottawa, Ontario).

Published Journal Articles: 2000 “Immigrants and Employment: A Comparison of Montreal and Toronto Between 1981 and 1996", with J. Cox, Canadian Journal of Regional Science, 23:87-111

- 1999 “Employment Experiences of Chinese Immigrant Women: An Exploration of Diversity”, with G. Man, Canadian Women’s Studies, 19:115-122.

- IN PROGRESS “Gender, Employment and Immigration: An Agenda for Future Research,” with E. Tatsoglou, submitted to Atlantis.

Other: A short report was distributed to the community partners for their comments and discussion.

February 23, 2003 “Immigrants in the Toronto Economy: Opportunities and Challenges,” GTA Forum, Toronto, Ontario.

- October 2002, CIC, HRDC Consultation “Immigrants in a Knowledge”, Vancouver, BC.

2001 February, CIC Conversation, “Recruiting Skilled Migrants”, Ottawa, Ontario.

- V. Preston 2001 “Becoming An Immigrant Woman: Hong Kong Women in Toronto’s Suburbs.” A paper presented at the University of Toronto and CERIS-York.

2. Immigration, Ethnic diversity and Labour Unions in Canada

Research team (lead researcher, partners):

Jeffrey G. Reitz, Department of Sociology and Centre for Industrial Relations,

University of Toronto

Anil Verma, Faculty of Management, University of Toronto

Start date: September 1998; extension granted

Date of completion: September 2002

Amount awarded from CERIS $12,950

Summary

In Canada, racial minorities have lower rates of unionization (union membership and/or coverage by a collective agreement) than do members of the majority workforce of European origins. The reasons, and the impact on relative wage rates among minority workers, are examined here in data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (the 1997 wave, combined panels 1 and 2,

N=32,634). The analysis distinguishes men and women of black, South Asian, Chinese, East and Southeast Asian and other racial minority origins, and employs a bootstrap statistical procedure for assessing the reliability of findings. To a significant degree, lower racial minority unionization rates are a result of their recency of arrival as immigrants. With time in Canada they rapidly assimilate into unionization. However, while unionization reduces the net minority wage disadvantage somewhat, the impact, somewhat variable across groups, is small. It is suggested that to have a greater impact, union race relations policies should place more emphasis on collective bargaining as well as on unionization.

Introduction

Immigration in recent decades has increased the racial diversity of the workforce across urban centres both in the United States and in Canada. In the U.S., where racial issues have long been prominent in discussion of labour markets, recent immigration has added new dimensions to such discussions (Waters and Eschbach 1995; see also Borjas 1985, Chiswick 1986, Lieberson and Waters 1988, Portes and Rumbaut 1990, Schlesinger 1992, Waldinger 1996, Milkman 2000,

and Briggs 2001). In Canada, recent immigration has been similar in its diversity, and in proportion to population has been even greater in volume (Halli 1990; Reitz 1998, 8-13). This immigration since 1970 has propelled race to prominence as an issue in urban Canada for the first time (Satzewich 1992; Henry et al. 1994). Research on the labour market experience of immigrants, therefore, has been of much interest to researchers and policymakers. This concern about the integration of immigrant and ethnic minority workers naturally raises the issue of another labour market institution, namely, labour unions whose role and impacts have been studied extensively in both Canada and the U.S. Since labour unions were founded on the principles of social justice and workplace fairness, it is only natural to ask what impact they may have on immigrant and racial minority workers. Equally, has the increase in the proportion of such workers had any impact on unions and their policies?

More specifically, one would like to know if unions impact the integration of new immigrants, particularly for those coming from a non-European background, into the labour market. Even though both Canada and the U.S. have received large inflows of immigrants since their founding, it is only in the last twenty years that significant numbers have come from countries outside Europe. There is considerable evidence indicating that non-white immigrant minorities experience significantly lower success in the labour market, compared to immigrants from Europe, and compared to the native-born workforce. Every labour force analysis of the earnings of immigrants in Canada (for example, Li 1988; Reitz and Breton 1994, Baker and Benjamin 1997) has shown that, as in the U.S., after account is taken of measured qualifications such as education, language knowledge and work experience, those of non-European origin earn substantially less than immigrants of European origins, and less than the native-born members of the workforce. There is also substantial evidence, both systematic and anecdotal, suggesting at least some of this disparity is due to direct racial discrimination (Henry and Ginzberg 1985). It would be useful to know what role, if any, unions play in affecting (i.e., improving or otherwise) the labour market experiences of such people.

In this paper, we use recently-available data from a large-scale national survey to address two questions. First, is there a difference between union coverage of racial minorities, both immigrant and native-born, and that of the white majority? If yes, what factors account for this difference? Second, to what extent does union coverage account for the differences in earnings of racial minorities compared to the rest of the workforce? We estimate the gross difference in union coverage and earnings and then try to decompose it by controlling for factors such as gender, recency of immigration, education and occupation.

Theoretical Concepts and Previous Research

Previous studies of the integration of immigrants in the labour movement, based on experiences in the United States (Rosenblum 1973; Parmet 1981; Collomp 1988; Mink 1986; Delgado 1993; Milkman 2000) as well as other countries (e.g. DeJongh 1985; Quinlan and Lever-Tracy 1990), have recognized that such integration is far from automatic. Rather, it is a social process which evolves over time, and depends on how immigrants enter or leave unionized occupations and workplaces, and how they are affected by on-going processes both of union certification, and of union job loss and de-certification. One study in Canada (Christofides and Swidinsky 1994) introduced union membership as a variable; it showed that visible minority men are only two-thirds as likely to be union members as majority group males. Here we want to examine this relationship further.

The entry of immigrants into already-unionized occupations and workplaces may be examined as part of a broader process of immigrant assimilation within economic institutions

(e.g. Reitz and Sklar 1997). This process may be affected by a number of reasons. On the one hand, immigrants may have little knowledge of their potential choices in the labour market. They may come from countries where unions are either not prevalent or less effective (less power, more corruption, more violent, etc.) compared to Canadian unions. They may also face more barriers to entering jobs with high unionization rates (usually the better-paid jobs) because of lack of Canadian education and experience. In many immigrant communities, social networks may direct new workers to specific occupations and industries which are often not unionized

(DeFreitas 1988), and also toward positions within a local ethnic economy which may also be less unionized (Portes 1995). However, as immigrants gain more experience in and knowledge of the Canadian labour market, they may become more adept at gaining entry to more jobs and occupations as well as become more informed about the labour movement and the benefits of union membership.

Employment discrimination against immigrants or minorities may take the form of lack of access to certain jobs and occupations, discriminatory pay, promotions or dismissals. Such discrimination may also affect access to union jobs. If discrimination against visible minorities exists, it is reasonable to assume that when they first enter the labour market, they would not be able to obtain entry into certain jobs, occupations and industries. They would then be overrepresented in some jobs and under-represented in other jobs. If unions happen to cover more of the jobs where minorities are under-represented then we may expect the unionization rate for racial minorities to be lower. This difference would be attributed correctly to labour market discrimination rather than to a lower preference for unionization among racial minorities.

Similarly, if unions were strong in jobs where racial minorities were over-represented then the unionization rate for racial minorities would be higher.

Efforts to organize new workplaces may also affect immigrants and racial minorities differentially. While existing union members may perceive that immigrants pose a threat to their employment and earnings position, they also may recognize immigrant workers as potential recruits who may strengthen the overall labour position. However, some of the same factors that affect the entry of immigrants into already-unionized jobs, and perhaps others as well, may affect the success that unions have in efforts to organize workplaces in which immigrants may be disproportionately represented. Lack of knowledge of the union movement and available options for collective bargaining, and isolation from supportive social networks, may reduce the potential effectiveness of certification efforts.

Where there is a loss of unionized jobs, whether through layoffs, downsizing, plant closings, or de-certification, specific population groups may be affected differently. Clearly if at one point in time immigrants are less represented among union members, then a subsequent loss of union jobs may reduce that disparity by lowering unionization rates in the mainstream population.

These various processes may operate quite differently for men and women. In Canada, a gender gap in unionization has been closed in recent years (White 1993), signalling a gender difference in the processes determining overall unionization rates. These gender-specific processes affecting union representation may also affect newly-arriving immigrants, including racial minority immigrants.

Two studies done in the U.S. show racial minorities to have higher union coverage than the majority white population. Defreitas (1993) using a sample of 23-30-year-olds from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, reported higher unadjusted coverage rates for blacks (29.4 percent) and Hispanics (20.5 percent) compared to the rate for Anglos (16.7 percent). Only Asians (12.5 percent) had a rate lower than the rate for Anglos. However, once the rates were adjusted for demand factors such as occupation and industry, the differences become insignificant. This study also found immigrants to have a higher rate of unionization.

Another study by Kim and Kim (1997) also reported higher levels of unionization among non-whites, using the March 1996 Current Population Survey. They found unadjusted rates for

Asians (16.3 percent) and blacks (21.6 percent) to be higher compared to whites (13.9 percent).

These differences remained significant even after controlling for a host of factors such as education, gender, age and industry. Further, they report that for Asian-Americans, the length of stay in the U.S. had a positive effect on unionization, suggesting that over time union membership is either sought more or is more available (through jobs). The study did not try to separate the effects of more demand for unionization for greater supply of unionized jobs. They also report that native-born Asian-Americans were more likely to be unionized than naturalized Asian-Americans. Lastly, Asian-Americans with U.S. citizenship were more likely to be unionized compared to non-citizens.

The integration of immigrants and minorities in the workforce is affected by their participation in the labour movement because of the impact that such participation has on their earnings relative to the mainstream workforce. The general effect of unions in raising income standards also benefits immigrants and racial minorities by boosting the wages of all workers with wages at the low end of the distribution, since these workers tend to be minorities more often (Reitz, 1998: 149-204). Here the focus is on the relative earnings of minorities within a given wage distribution. Racial barriers in access to union jobs also may be one component of the earnings discrimination experienced by minorities, but access to union jobs may offset such discrimination. Freeman and Medoff (1984) showed that in the United States, the most vulnerable groups such as young workers, those with less education or jobs skills, and including blacks, experienced greater earnings benefits from union membership than did older or better educated workers, or whites. Such data suggest that union membership for such groups may offset disadvantages due to lack of other occupational resources, and may offset discriminatory labour market processes such as racial discrimination. Whether such processes apply to racial minority immigrant groups, specifically in the Canadian context, is a key question to be examined below.

Our study adds to the literature in several ways. First, we describe union membership and coverage among immigrants and racial minorities, using a national data-set that is designed to be representative of the Canadian workforce. Second, we examine how union coverage is affected by minority status and other social and demographic variables. And third, we examine how union involvement affects previously-observed earnings disadvantages among racial minorities and immigrants. This research addresses issues of practical interest to unions and management (see Odencrantz et al. 1986), as well as of general public policy relevance. Public policy addresses the integration of immigrants and minorities into economic institutions, and unions are a critical element in those institutions. Strategies to address obstacles to the successful integration of minorities can be made more effectively if there is an understanding and appreciation of the part played by unions in that process. A neglect of the position of unions, and of the distinctive features of the union environment, can undermine the success of these strategies. The analysis also speaks to issues of concern to unions themselves (see Zimny and Waelder 1987). Unions want to add members, and are finding difficulties in many expanding sectors such as financial, business and personal services, computers, and other high-tech sectors. Immigrants are often represented in these sectors, and unions need to understand barriers posed by diversity. Employers negotiating with unions in collective bargaining should understand the changing ethnic composition of the workforce, and its impact in collective bargaining.

Union Policies and Practices

As background for our analysis, we examined the structures and practices that Canadian unions have put in place to deal with the issue of union membership and representation of persons of ethnic minority backgrounds. Such an investigation yields some insights into trade unions’ internal policies and policies in this area. We gathered information through interviews and websites of eight large national and international unions representing workers in the public sector, manufacturing, and the service sector and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). The average membership in these eight unions in 1999 was 195,000 with a range of 55,000 to

486,000.

The precise fraction of visible ethnic minorities was unknown in all the unions. Two unions estimated it in the range of 15-25 percent. For the most part, all the unions in our sample appear to recognize the importance of ethnic minority participation and equal access to representation within unions. However, some unions are more progressive than others in putting those beliefs into practice. Those unions that have yet to implement policies and programs to increase minority participation and to improve the status of visible minorities within their unions, have all generated action plans to achieve this goal.

Many of the representatives expressed that although they have made significant gains in improving minority representations and status, they still have a long way to go before they reach an optimal level of equality. This is evident in the number of visible minorities in leadership position within the unions. At the local and plant levels a greater number of minorities hold leadership positions than at more senior levels, and very few exist at the nation level. Only one union (in the public sector) and the CLC reported a visible minority in a high level executive position.

All of the unions, with the exception of one representing manufacturing employees, had in place a Human Rights department with officers who were responsible for ensuring that minorities receive fair and equal representation and to increase participation of visible minority members in union activities. Visible minorities including First Nations largely staff these departments and participate in Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) sponsored diversity awareness and management conferences and ensure that they abide by the human rights guidelines and standards set by the CLC. Many of the unions also held activities in the community and within their unions to encourage involvement in union initiatives and to recognize the achievements of their racial and ethnic minorities membership.

Some unions are more actively involved than others in strategically increasing participation of racial minorities in their unions. Overall, unions representing workers in the public sector were more progressive than others in their pursuit of equality and minority representation. This is perhaps because they are more heavily influenced by government human rights legislation and have greater accountability to abide by these laws than other unions. Unions representing public sector employees were the only ones aware of the fraction of their membership consisting of visible minorities in each industry and had set targets for increasing minority membership in those industries where minority participation is deficient.

Data and Methods

Our sample is drawn from the Survey of Labour Income Dynamics (SLID), the 1997 wave combining panels 1 (surveyed over the period 1993 - 1998) and 2 (surveyed over the period 1996 - 2001). Although this is a longitudinal survey, meaningful longitudinal analysis is not yet possible, and we use the data in this study for its cross-sectional content. From this sample, we drew a subsample consisting of adults in the workforce, but excluding self-employed persons and farmers. SLID documents both individuals as cases as well as jobs. Thus, any individual who may have held more than one job in the reference year will have multiple records in the job file.

For this study, we selected those individuals who either held a job or had it terminated in

December 1997. Thus, we exclude persons whose job terminated earlier in the year. The resulting sample includes 32,634 persons.

The SLID sample is drawn from the Canadian Labour Force Survey sample, which is a stratified multi-stage cluster sample. The complex sample strata include provinces, urban centres and rural regions within provinces, and economic areas within these units. From the standpoint of analysis of immigrants and racial minorities, the sample-design emphasis on equal representation of provinces carries the disadvantage of reducing the representation of immigrant groups which are concentrated in the larger provinces. The total sample of immigrants is 2,840, and the sample of racial minorities is 1394. Detailed analysis by nativity, specific origins, and gender forces serious attention to issues of statistical reliability and significance. In the analysis here, the recommended bootstrap statistical procedure is employed, using bootstrap weights supplied by Statistics Canada. This paper presents only weighted results, but except where indicated the sample N’s are based on actual interviews conducted. The analysis of unionization, defined as union membership and/or coverage by a collective agreement, includes logistic regression results in which controls for human capital endowments are included, and with attention to two time-related variables: recency of immigration for immigrants, and work experience for the native-born. The analysis of the log of hourly wages is based on ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, also with controls for human capital endowments.

Visible minorities constituted 9.1 percent of the sample with a slightly higher proportion among women compared to men (9.5 percent vs. 8.9 percent). Within this category, the data distinguish blacks (1.5 percent), South Asians (1.6 percent), Chinese (2.2 percent), East and Southeast Asians (2.1 percent) and other groups (1.5 percent). Significantly, 4.7 percent of the sample refused to answer the question about ethnicity.

Results: Unionization

Union members and those covered by a collective agreement constituted 32.1 percent of the sample, in roughly the same proportion as one finds unionized workers in the workforce as a whole. Canadian-born individuals made up 79.2 percent of the sample with immigrants accounting for 15.7 percent (5.1 percent of the sample refused to respond to the question about their place of birth). We further distinguished immigrants by their period of arrival in Canada.

Immigrants who entered Canada before 1970 accounted for 4.6 percent of the sample with immigrants during 1970-79 and 1980-94 accounting for 4.2 percent and 6.9 percent of the sample respectively.

Unionization rates among the White majority was found to be considerably higher compared to the same rate among visible minorities. The racial unionization gap is somewhat greater for men, though it is statistically significant for both genders. Among men, unionization rates are nearly

13 percent higher for whites compared to racial minorities (35.1 percent compared to 22.2 percent); among women, the racial gap is 8 percent (31.4 percent unionization rate for whites compared to 23.4 percent for minorities). There are notable variations in unionization rates for specific origins groups. For example, unionization rates are low for Chinese men and women, and relatively high for black women. Unionization differences with whites are not statistically significant for South Asians, though their union representation in the sample is comparable to what is observed for other groups.

To obtain a better understanding of unionization among racial minorities we provide a breakdown of unionization rate by period of immigration. Among immigrants, the racial gap in unionization is particularly marked for men (12.5 percent) but is small (and not statistically significant) for women. Racial minorities are more numerous among recently arrived immigrants, and for both whites and minorities there is a fairly rapid increase in unionization rates with time in Canada. Among men, the rate of unionization among immigrants arriving in the 1980s and 1990s was 18.7 percent, rising to 27.4 percent for immigrants arriving in the 1970s and 31.3 percent for earlier arrivals. The same trend holds for visible minority women for whom the increase in unionization rate with time spent in Canada is even more pronounced (16.8 percent; 36.9 percent; 46.1 percent). When unionization rates are examined for immigrants with comparable periods of time in Canada, the racial gap is very substantially reduced. Among recent immigrants unionization rates are fairly low for whites and racial minorities alike. Among immigrants in Canada for longer periods of time, unionization rates are higher, again both for whites and for racial minorities. Among minority men the increase is somewhat less than for whites, while among minority women the increase is somewhat greater for minorities compared to whites. Hence for immigrants, racial differences in unionization rates appear to be due at least in part to the recency of arrival of many racial minorities, and both whites and racial minorities tend to assimilate into unionization over time.

Note that among native-born Canadian workers, there is a significant racial gap in unionization. As for immigrants, the reasons for this difference must be examined in the context of the recency of arrival of immigrant groups. This is because native-born racial minorities in Canada tend to be younger than persons of European origins, and younger workers tend to have lower rates of unionization.

The next step in our analysis was to examine unionization rates for visible minorities after controlling for age and all several factors that influence unionization. Table 4 shows various results of logistic regressions on union status. Three sets of regressions are presented, separately for immigrants and native-born, men and women. In the first set of regressions (left hand columns) union status is regressed on racial status only. The second set (center columns) adds time-related controls: recency of immigration for immigrants, and work experience for the native-born, and the third set (right hand columns) adds several other human capital variables including education, occupation, marital status, province, public/private sector, and (for immigrants) mother tongue. To elaborate the analysis of race, the results are presented with visible minority status first as a bi-variate dummy, and then as a five-way classification of ethnic origin.

The time-related variables help explain the overall racial gap in unionization rates for immigrants and native-born alike. The racial gap which was statically significant for immigrant men, and for native-born men and women, is reduced to less than half its size, and falls below significance, when the regression includes the time-related control variable. The other controls have little further impact on the racial gap.

Lower unionization rates apply to many of the specific minority groups. Some of these lower rates are statistically significant - Chinese immigrant men and women, and native-born

Chinese women in particular - but many are not. Black immigrant women are significantly more likely to be unionized than white immigrant women. Native-born South Asian men are more likely to be unionized, though the trend is not statistically significant. In virtually all cases, however, the effect of minority status becomes more positive when time-related controls are added. This indicates a pervasive trend whereby the recency of arrival of all racial minorities reduces their unionization rates. Again the additional human capital controls have relatively little impact on these trends.

Results: Impact on Wages

We now examine the impact that union status has on wages for racial minorities. These results for men and women are shown in Table 5. Four sets of regressions are reported in columns from left to right: the left hand columns show regression of wages on visible minority status without any other controls; the second group of columns adds union status and an interaction term of union and racial status but still without any human capital controls. The third and the fourth columns repeat these regressions with controls added for immigration status, mother tongue, work experience, education, marital status and province. Regressions were estimated for visible minority status coded as a bi-variate variable first and then with a five-way racial classification.

The overall racial disadvantage is little affected by unionization. For men, racial disparities in earnings (beta = -0.17, and -0.12 after human capital controls) have a similar order of magnitude after the impact of unionization is considered. Union membership has a very substantial positive impact on wages, and there is a significant union/race interaction, indicating that racial minorities benefit more from unionization than do members of the European origin workforce. However, the impact on the relative wages of minorities is small. For women, racial disparities in earnings (beta = -0.10) is largely explained by the human capital variables. While unionization also boosts earnings for women, the union/race interaction is not significant (and the negative coefficient suggests greater benefits for workers of European origins).

Racial disadvantage varies among minority groups, as is known from many previous studies based on other samples such as census data. Among men, the impact of unionization on minority wages appears to be slightly positive. The union/race interactions are mostly positive (except for East and Southeast Asian men). For South Asian men (who had somewhat greater union representation) the positive impact is statistically significant both before and after the human capital controls. The positive impact of unions for South Asian men is also indicated by the fact the direct impact of South Asian status is greater when examined after the impact of unionization is taken into account. For other groups such as black and Chinese men, the impact of unionization appears to be smaller.

Among women, disadvantages also vary by specific origins groups, but less so. The union/race interactions vary in sign, with some positive and others negative; none are statistically significant. Despite higher levels of unionization among minority women, unionization has even

less impact on their earnings than is the case for minority men.

Conclusions, Discussion and Policy Implication

Our results show that racial minority groups are generally less likely to be found in unionized jobs compared to the white majority. This pattern is more pronounced for men than for women, and varies somewhat among minority groups. However, with the exception of black women, particularly black immigrant women, most groups are less represented in unions than are the white majority, and in some cases significantly so.

The gap in unionization appears to diminish over time for new immigrants many of whom belong to racial minority groups. The analysis for immigrants shows that any racial effects are related to recency of immigration of racial minorities. For immigrant men, much of the racial difference in unionization is explained by the time spent in Canada since immigration. For immigrant women, the racial difference in unionization is small in any case. However, the racial gap does not completely disappear, although this result falls short of statistical significance, and therefore may be modified in analyses based on more complete data.

In terms of wages, visible minorities appear to earn significantly less than other people with similar attributes. This disadvantage is compensated but only partially, by union status that improved wages but not by enough to offset it completely.

Our analysis suggests that further investigations are needed to try to understand the differential experiences of men and women belonging to a visible minority group. We have some indication that part of this difference is accounted for by minority women’s relatively greater success in accessing unionized jobs. Why that should be so is less clear.

It is also important to investigate the precise reasons for increasing unionization rates for immigrants with the length of stay. Since visible minority immigrants do much better over time than non-minority immigrants it is important to ask if this is because of greater need for voice.

Equally, it could be due to greater supply of unionization services (outreach by unions) targeted at this group. In any unionization drives aimed at immigrants, visible minority women appear to be most receptive to the union message.

Unions appear to play only a minor role in the earnings assimilation of immigrants to Canada, including the slower earnings assimilation of racial minority immigrants. What this means is that while unions are not in themselves an obstacle to job opportunity for racial minorities, neither do they provide any major assist in overcoming those obstacles. By implication, unions have little impact on racial discrimination in Canada, either positive or negative.

Our results show an aggregate pictures across large industrial categories. It is likely that racial minorities are concentrated in a small number of industries within those categories, and there, unions may have some mitigating impact on wages or other types of discrimination. The problem in investigating these possibilities is that as yet we do not have large enough numbers of racial minorities in all industries to permit a rigorous test of these differences. However, as more data become available from a second panel of SLID data we would be able to investigate this possibility further in the near future.

As background for this study, we examined policies and practices in specific unions, and those unions included in our sample appear to be on the right track in that they have at least recognized the gap in minority representation and participation in their unions. It is encouraging that these unions have identified the need to rectify under representation and unequal treatment of visible minorities in Canadian unions. However, the pace of change has been slow; the presence of racial minorities in leadership positions at all levels of these unions is still weak. Few of them have any significant program to target racial minorities for membership and for better representation in prized union jobs. For the unions, some of the next steps could be to target minority membership and to tackle the systemic bias that appears to work against minorities in access to good jobs.

Lastly, it is worth asking if unions should indeed put the elimination of racial differences in wages on their priority list. There are several risks and challenges in doing so. First, the increasing ranks of racial minorities coupled with the need to recruit new members to the labour movement would argue strongly in favor of a set of policies aimed at reducing or eliminating the disadvantage faced by racial minorities. Second, if the unions were to do so they will have to sell this idea to their majority members who may not always agree with this thrust especially when a fixed-size pie (e.g. a wage increase) may have to be divided between themselves and minorities whose lower wages may have to brought up to close the gap. Further, on the employment front, some majority group members may resent losing jobs and promotions to minorities in a time of slow employment growth.

These risks notwithstanding, many unions have already begun to place a higher priority on racial equality. Some unions have outreach programs in new organizing. Others have internal cells that provide services directed at minority members. Most collective agreements have clauses that prohibit any discrimination based on race. Yet, racial differences in wages are nearly the same within the unionized sector as they are within the nonunion sector. This suggests that whatever unions may be doing to reduce racial discrimination, the impact of their efforts is yet to show up in aggregate studies like this one. One message that can be taken away from this analysis is that unions may have to re-double their efforts if they want to help racial minorities close the disadvantage gap.

Dissemination:

Published Journal Articles: Jeffrey G. Reitz and Anil Verma, "Immigration, Race, and

Labor: Unionization and Wages in the Canadian Labor Market," unpublished ms., January 2003. An earlier draft of this paper under a different title was presented to the University and College Labour Education Association/AFL-CIO Education Conference, Forging a Labor Community Agenda: Race, Class and Gender, and the Fight for Economic Justice, held April 8 - 11, 1999, in Atlanta, Georgia.

3. Immigrant and Refugee Youth Unemployment: A Qualitative Exploration of Labour Market Exclusion

Research team (lead researcher, partners):

John Shields, Department of Politics and School of Public Administration,

Ryerson Polytechnic University

Kahn S. Rahi, Access Action Council

Ryerson Social Reporting Network

Start date: September 1998

Date of completion: February 2002

Amount awarded from CERIS $14,510

Amount awarded from other sources of funding: Additional funding to cover costs to enhance this project has been sought through the City of Toronto Access and Equity Grants. There will be approximately $6,000 from this source in additional contributions. With this added funding we hope to extend the focus groups to an additional immigrant/refuge community (Latin Americans and/or Portuguese) and to pay an honorarium to unemployed youth participating in our focus groups.

Research Statement

The ability to secure full and meaningful employment is a necessary condition for societal cohesion. Effective access to labour market participation has been threatened, however, by the high incidence of unemployment, particularly regarding youth. The purpose of this research is to examine the "lived labour market" experience of immigrant and refugee youth who have been unsuccessful in their attempts to integrate into the Toronto labour market. A qualitative case study of visibly identifiable African and Asian immigrant/refugee youth using semi-structured focus groups to probe their experiences of the local job market was utilized. The overall guiding question informing our research was: What role do race and ethnicity play in affecting employment opportunities and experiences for immigrant and refugee youth, thus excluding them from successful labour market participation?

Research Objectives

The ability to secure full and meaningful employment is a necessary condition for the realization of values such as freedom, economic well-being, justice, social participation and integration within market society. Effective access to labour market participation has been threatened by the higher incidence of unemployment, particularly on the part of youth. The central place of the labour contract as a core component of societal cohesion, consequently, is experiencing significant erosion (Offe 1997: 82).

The purpose of this research is the examination of the “lived labour market” experience of immigrant and refugee youth who have been unsuccessful in their attempts to integrate into the Toronto labour market. We used semi-structured focus groups drawn from African and Asian immigrant and refugee youth in Toronto. The overall guiding question that has informed our research project is: What role do race and ethnicity play in affecting employment opportunities and experiences for immigrant and refugee youth, thus excluding them from successful labour market participation?

This research will make a direct contribution to advancing equality by providing us with insight into the “lived labour market” experience of unemployed immigrant/refugee youth, allowing us to identify conceptually relevant themes, issues and contexts behind their labour market exclusion and the stresses on societal cohesion. While this qualitative approach does not allow us to draw representative conclusions, it affords us the opportunity to paint a textured profile and identify emerging and salient variables that are important in framing and interpreting the immigrant/refugee youth unemployment experience. This study enables us to begin to understand the racial and ethnic dynamics, among other factors, affecting Canadian youth in their attempts to integrate into the job market.

Context

There is ample evidence to suggest that a number of fundamental changes have occurred in the Canadian labour market within the last two decades challenging traditional notions of job availability, job stability and economic security (Shields 1996; and Burke and Shields 2000). The pressures of global economic restructuring, intensified international competition, rapid technological change, a shifting of skill needs and changing immigration patterns have set the context for Canadian economic and labour market transformations. Demographically, for example, visible minorities represent a growing portion of the labour force. In Ontario, between 1981 and 1991 their share of the labour force increased from 6 percent to 13 percent (Ontario Ministry of Education and Training 1996: 64).

Data from the 2001 Census indicates that immigration has now become Canada's most important source of population growth (Statistics Canada 2002: 2). Also, given the ethno-racial profile of incoming migrants to Canada, by 2016 some 20 percent of the population will be comprised of visible minorities up from 9.4 percent in 1991 (Chard and Renaud 2000: 22-27). The impact of demographic change facilitated by immigration is even more dramatic in major urban centres, a reflection of the fact that the immigration experience in Canada is a decidedly urban affair. Over 70 percent of immigrants settle in the three largest Canadian cities, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal (OECD 2001: 144). In 2000, 47.5 percent of all arriving immigrants came to the Greater Toronto area. The impact of immigration has affected no Canadian, or for that matter North American, city more than Toronto. Census data from 1996 reveals that 49 percent of city residents were foreign born, with nearly 30 percent having resided here less than 20 years and 14 percent less than 10 years. Yet only 6.1 percent of the population reported that they did not speak English (Ornstein 2000: iii). The colour of the city has changed dramatically as a consequence. In 1961, visible minorities made up only 3 percent of Toronto’s population, by 2001 visible minorities composed the majority at an estimated 53 percent. In terms of the racial profile of Toronto’s visible minority population, 25 percent is Chinese, 25 percent South Asian, and 20 percent black (Carey 2002: B4-5). Toronto has become not only Canada’s most ethnically diverse centre but ranks among the world's leading cities in cosmopolitan status.

Average unemployment levels have increased steadily since the 1970s, with an average level over the past three decades at over 9 percent, and more recently still sitting at the 7.5 percent level. Poor employment performance during the post-1993 economic recovery fueled discussion of a "jobless recovery" or a "job poor" recovery. Having lost a job in the 1990s, it is much more difficult to find a new one across all groups, but especially for young workers and immigrants (Shields 1996; and Pendakur 2000). Supply-side factors fail to offer a satisfactory explanation for high youth unemployment as those sectors of the labour market with the strongest performance contain the occupations with the heaviest youth workforces (Blanchflower and Freeman 1998: 5). Young workers are experiencing twice the rates of unemployment compared to the labour force average. In the Toronto region youth joblessness stood at some 18 percent by the latter 1990s (FCM 1998).

Studies reveal a long established pattern of labour market disadvantage and exclusion for immigrant/refugee labour (Bolaria and Li 1985). Research indicates that visible minority youth with the same education and training backgrounds have found it more difficult to find full-time work than those of European background. While some 58 percent of university graduates from European and 54 percent from South Asian background found employment quickly, only 40 percent of Black and 35 percent of Chinese graduates were equally successful (Institute for Social Research 1997).

While several key trends have been identified, our understanding of the degree to which the structural changes in the labour market are revealed in the lived experiences of unemployed immigrant/refugee youth is quite preliminary. While the immigrant earning opportunities for immigrant workers have been intensively studied, there has been a dearth of analysis of immigrant unemployment in Canada (McDonald and Worswick 1997: 354). The degrees of income polarization, job insecurity and detachment from the workplace experienced by immigrant and refugee youth have, however, important economic, political and social consequence for the nation as a whole.

Conducting the Field Research and Summary of Initial Findings

Initiated in September 1998, this CERIS-supported study has focused on the “lived labour market” in Toronto and the role that race and ethnicity, both material and perceived, play in affecting employment opportunities of immigrant and refugee youth. Professor John Shields of Ryerson University is the lead researcher on this project, working in partnership with the community co-investigator Kahn Rahi from the Access Action Council of Toronto (AAC).

With the funding support from CERIS, the City of Toronto Access and Equity Grants Program, and Ryerson University, nine focus groups were brought together to discuss issues which affect labour market exclusion and/or inclusion. In total 61 immigrant refugee youth from Africa and Asia participated in the focus groups. The youth participants were drawn from a wide range of countries. They included recent visible-minority immigrants and refugees from such diverse regions as: Vietnam, Somalia, Tibet, Japan, Afghanistan, southeast Asia, China, Angola, Rwanda, and various unspecified African countries. As well, eight service providers from in and around Toronto offered insights from their work with immigrant / refugee youth in the City.

The non-random sample of individuals was drawn from immigrant/refugee service agencies, ethno-cultural organizations, and youth/employment centres within the Greater Toronto Area. Ages of the participants (excluding the service providers) ranged from late-teens to mid-twenties with a mean age of 22.8. The size of the groups varied from four participants to as many as eleven.

While the interviews were pre-structured and standardized, once the taped sessions began the participants were given ample room to articulate (important) concerns and issues which may have fallen outside the original line of questioning. These semi-structured dialogues with participants concentrated on the following topics:

· employment prospects and obstacles;

· how structural features (including racism) and changes in the labour market are revealed in the lived experiences of immigrant/refugee youth;

· the commonalities and disparities between different immigrant/refugee groups as well as comparisons between the participants of the study and non-immigrant/non-refugee youth;

· what cluster of resources, at the institutional, community and family levels, empowers individuals and allows immigrant/refugee youth to maintain self-esteem, hopefulness, and societal attachment during unemployment; and

· the expectations of immigrant/refugee youth in the short, medium and long term regarding their employment prospects.

Emerging from the interviews and voluntary written pre-surveys are a number of discernible themes related to labour market exclusion. For the frustrated youth and service providers, one of the major barriers often talked of was the lethargic and prohibitive nature of the Canadian immigration process. Eager to work, many of the participants, especially those arriving without proper documentation, felt the immigration process was far too slow and forced them into a holding pattern of financial hardship and dependence upon government support.

"You know, right now like till we get landed status, I mean there are so many things we would like to do but there is always that obstacle." (Asian youth)

The government support, while appreciated by the vast majority of those dependent immigrant/refugee youth, was felt to be too meager. With a monthly stipend which barely keeps them out of extreme poverty, they are unable to afford adequate housing, appropriate “Canadian” clothing, or necessary transportation thus forcing them to settle for jobs which pay little, challenge them less, and are completely unrelated to their foreign work experience or education.

"The money that Social Services give you it will be not enough to buy a [Metropass]. To buy a ticket you going to buy ticket or you going to buy food or you going to pay rent." (African youth)

Often, it becomes clear in the study, foreign work experience and/or education is devalued in the Canadian labour market. So pervasive is the feeling that all experience and education must be Canadian that many individuals and ethnic communities internalize this barrier, not even bothering to enter the job market before they have at least some new, "Canadian" training.

"I want to work, but the thing is I cannot get a job with my present qualifications. I need to upgrade my skill and learn new skills so that I can compete in the market." (Asian youth)

"When I came to Canada everybody have been saying you need training. No matter what you have been trained for from where you come from, you still need new training here." (African youth)

A number of other obstacles, in addition to the major structural barriers, include access to information, difficulties with (the English) language, hostility to religious clothing, and culture shock. While overt experiences of racism were not that common, and perception of racism is highly subjective, the racism inherent in many of the structural barriers must be analyzed and addressed.

Dissemination:

Conferences: Khan Rahi and John Shields, “Immigrant and Refugee Youth Labour Market

Exclusion: A Qualitative Toronto Case Study”, Fifth International Metropolis Conference, Vancouver, Canada, November 14, 2000.

Other: Khan Rahi & Surrendra Santokhi, “Multi-ethnic Art, Culture, Neighbourhood Transformation and Economic Activities”, Sixth International Metropolis Conference, Rotterdam, Netherlands, November 26-30, 2001(findings from this project were highlighted).

- John Shields, Invited Key Informant, Preparing Canada’s Youth for the Future: An HRDC Project with Canadian Leaders (interviews conducted by SPR Associates Inc. for Human Resources Development Canada), Toronto, June 30, 2001 (findings from this project were highlighted).

- John Shields, Presentation, “The Canadian Labour Market and the Immigrant Experience: Economic Well-Being, Settlement and Adjustment” for a Tour of French Journalists organized by the Canadian Embassy in Paris France, September 27, 2000, Toronto, Canada (findings from this project were presented).

- Khan Rahi and John Shields, Workshop Facilitators, “Unemployment and Ethno-Racial Youth”, Bridging the Future: Settlement, Youth, Technology, Ontario ISAP Conference, Toronto, March 24, 1999.

4. Investigating Policy Barriers to Immigrant Business Development: A Case Study of Chinese in the GTA

Research team (lead researcher, partners):

Shuguang Wang, School of Applied Geography, Ryerson Polytechnic University

Lucia Lo, Department of Geography, York University

Association of Chinese Canadian Entrepreneurs

Richmond Hill & Markham Chinese Business Association

Canada Mainland Chinese Affairs Committee

Start date: September 1998

Date of completion: September 1999

Amount awarded from CERIS $16,410

Abstract:

Utilizing various data sources, this study attempts to understand the dynamics of the Chinese ethnic economy in the GTA and its implications on immigrant integration, by delineating Chinese settlement and economic activity patterns, identifying the structure of their businesses, and measuring their monetary contribution to the larger Canadian economy. It finds differentiated settlement and activity patterns of Chinese subgroups from various source countries. It observes that the Chinese have created a relatively complete local economy, but the diversified structure of their businesses also indicates full integration into the larger Canadian economy. It also observes that the economic performance of Chinese immigrants as a group is not on par with the rest of the population despite their generally higher levels of education and skill. In monetary terms, their contribution to the Canadian economy is positive. Overall, the findings are informative for the public and policy decisio