Labor market transitions of immigrant-born, refugee-born, and Canadian-born youth.

Wilkinson, Lori

WORK IS AN IMPORTANT ACTIVITY FOR the majority of youth in Canada. For many, employment is an integral part of their transition to adulthood and the responsibilities associated with becoming a productive and active citizen. Difficulties associated with transitions to the labor market experienced by Canadian-born youth are well documented and include problems with finding well-paid employment, high levels of unemployment, declines in wages, and attaining a reasonable standard of living (Betcherman and Lekie 1997). While there is recognition that the transition processes may differ by gender (Hughes and Lowe 1993; Geller 1996), socioeconomic status (Bellamy 1993), Aboriginal status (Gabor, Thibodeau, and Manychief 1996), and visible minority status (James 1993; Perron 1996), there are no systematic studies of the employment experiences or transitions of immigrant-born or refugee-born youth. This is an important omission, especially because a prevailing assumption of many immigration/ integration theories is that immigrant and refugee youth tend to have greater success in the labor market than their parents (Tsui and Sammons 1988; Hagan, Macmillan, and Wheaton 1996; Isajiw 1999). While this assumption may be true, the extent and characteristics of employment of immigrant and refugee youth is largely unknown.

Are there differences between immigrants and refugees? We do know that certain aspects of the integration experience are similar for these two groups. Both will experience the difficulties of settling into a new society, learning a new culture, and many will experience discrimination. However, we do know that there are subtle differences between the two groups. For instance, refugee youth are less likely to know English or French before their arrival. This affects their chances at succeeding in education and employment. The affect of trauma and past experiences is another aspect differentiating refugees from immigrants. Exactly how these experiences influence various aspects of resettlement is largely unknown.

This research attempts to address one gap in our knowledge by comparing the initial labor market experiences of immigrant-born, refugee-born, and Canadian-born youth. Two fundamental questions are addressed. First, what are the factors influencing the participation in employment of immigrant-born and refugee-born youth and are they similar to the factors that have been identified for Canadian-born youth? Second, can the traditional school-to-work transitions model adequately explain the variance in employment status among refugee-born and immigrant-born youth, or is the integration model better?

While much is known of the arrival experiences of immigrant and refugee youth, little is known of their lives in Canada as adults. The examination of initial labor market experiences is a crucial aspect in understanding their transition from youth to adulthood. The few researchers investigating life course transitions among immigrant, refugee, and/or second-generation youth in the United States find that there are extreme variations in the successful integration into school (Zhou and Bankston 2000) and occupational aspirations (Rumbaut 1992) among Southeast Asian youth, but their research is based on small sample sizes, selected ethnocultural groups, and largely on youth living in large cities. None have given a broad national perspective on labor market experiences, unlike the research conducted on American-born and Canadian-born youth. Furthermore, much emphasis has been placed on second-generation youth, the children born of immigrant and refugee parents, while very little research has directly examined the experiences of those arriving as children or young adults (Quigley 1996; Ahearn, Loughry, and Ager 1999) and even less research has been conducted in Canada (Derwing et al. 1999; Wilkinson 2001; Shields, Rahi, and Scholtz 2006).

Before proceeding, it is important to note the distinctions between immigrant-born, refugee-born, and Canadian-born youth. In this paper, immigrant youth are defined as young persons who were born outside of Canada. They have arrived to the country as immigrants, either as family class or independent immigrants. Most arrived with their parents. Like immigrant-born youth, the refugee-born youth in this study were also born outside the country, but their legal and migration trajectories vary significantly. Some enter Canada as designated class refugees (government assisted or privately assisted) or convention class refugees (as designated by the United Nations). A small number would have arrived to Canada as refugee claimants but are currently permanent residents. While most arrived with their parents, there were several cases when young people arrived here alone. Despite their relatively recent arrival to the country, a few have even become Canadian citizens. The Canadian-born youth in this study were born in the country. Some are the children of immigrants and refugees (second-generation youth), but a very large majority have families with a longer settlement history.

NEWCOMER YOUTH ARE KEY TO LABOR MARKET GROWTH

The demographic and labor market influences of immigrant and refugee youth cannot be understated. Newcomers make up an increasingly important proportion of the Canadian population. According to the 2001 Census, 18.4 percent of the Canadian population is foreign-born (Statistics Canada 2003a), and this proportion is increasing. Immigration since 2005 has reached unprecedented levels, reaching as high as 256,000 per year, an integral contribution to Canadian demographic growth. Furthermore, the youth, ages 15-24 years make up a significant proportion of the Canadian population. Just over 13 percent of the Canadian-born population is between ages 15 and 24 years, while, 15.2 percent of immigrant-born, and 16.4 percent of refugee-born are within this age range.

Newcomers have become increasingly central to the growth of the Canadian economy, and most immigrant and refugee youth will contribute much of their entire adult lives to the labor force. An analysis of demographics throughout the postwar period reveals that the immigrant population consistently makes up one-fifth of the labor force (Li 1996:104). A more recent study reveals that the labor power and investments made by immigrants arriving in Canada during the 1990s accounted for over 70 percent of our economic growth during that decade (Statistics Canada 2003b). According to former Prime Minister Jean Chretien (2003:25), "by 2011, immigration will account for all net labour market growth, and forecasts suggest a shortfall of nearly one million workers within 20 years." Thus, the study of the initial labor market experiences of newcomer youth becomes more important in understanding the overall health of our economy.

Two literatures inform this research. The school-to-work transitions literature focuses on the varied pathways of young people leading from education to work. This literature emphasizes the influence of individual choice and of structural barriers, which shape work opportunities for young people. A second stream of literature aims to explain the successful (mainstream adaptation) and the unsuccessful (underclass absorption) integration of newcomers. It is focused on explaining experiences of immigrants and refugees and identifying the social barriers, which both enable and constrain their integration into various social institutions, including the labor market. Unfortunately, there are some limitations to this body of research. Many studies are based on research conducted in the United States. While the countries differ in terms of their economy and their reception toward newcomers, there is merit in discussing this research given the paucity of research conducted in Canada. As well, much of the recent focus has been on second-generation youth rather than on those who arrive to the country as immigrants. Here too, while the problems and barriers may differ, there are a few similarities to warrant a discussion.

SCHOOL-TO-WORK TRANSITIONS AND INTEGRATION/ ASSIMILATION

Studies of school-to-work transitions are abundant. One issue with these studies is that they rarely account for the immigration or refugee status. While they are adept at explaining the situation of youth born in Canada they are not very good at identifying variations based on nationality, immigrant status, ethnicity, or religion (Gabor et al. 1996; Perron, 1996; Jasinskaja-Lahiti and Liebkind 2000). Much of the American research suggests that immigrant status plays an important role in the educational and occupational outcomes of immigrant youth and suggests that different models of the school-to-work transition for newcomer youth be developed. Unfortunately, Canadian research has yet to follow this lead.

Despite its lack of attention to issues specific to immigrant and refugee youth, its framework is useful for understanding their life course transitions. While there is some debate about the "average" path of school-to-work transitions among Canadian youth, some common themes can be identified within the literature. Heinz (1996) suggests that leaving school, first full-time job, first marriage, and occupational career sequences are the major transitions from youth to adulthood. Others would argue that leaving home, entering postsecondary education, and parenthood are also crucial transitions (Irwin 1996). There are also certain subjective aspects to this transition including feeling like an adult, acquiring feelings of independence, and the acceptance of certain adult obligations. For immigrants and refugees, life course transitions for youth may also involve additional role transitions that do not normally affect the "average" Canadian-born youth. These include integrating into Canadian society, taking on temporary adult roles, and learning a new language (Tobin and Friedman 1984). These are transitions that most Canadian youth do not traverse yet may significantly impact the transition from school-to-work for immigrant and refugee youth.

A second stream of literature that informs this research is the immigration and integration studies, which can be separated into two categories: mainstream absorption and underclass absorption models. The mainstream absorption model accentuates "patterns of inclusion, of orderly integration and assimilation of particular racial and ethnic groups into a core culture and society" (Feagin and Booher Feagin 1998:29) and suggests that the integration experiences of newcomer youth are largely unproblematic. Children are likely to experience success in integrating into various social institutions given their lack of "cultural baggage" when compared with their parents (Feagin and Booher Feagin 1998; Isajiw 1999). In order to become "functional" in everyday life in Canada, newcomers must at least superficially adopt the dominant culture. Failure to do so results in marginalization with the accompanying repercussions of high unemployment, low waged work and other consequences including depression, school dropout, and delinquency (Macleod 1995; Schissel 1998). In this model, individuals attempt to maximize their success by doing everything possible to "fit in." This includes educational attainment, learning a new language, and adapting to the "Canadian" culture. As a result, those who succeed in these endeavors are more likely to experience success in school and future employment. Thus, the hypothesis generated by this model is that immigrant and refugee youth who are more successful in school and other aspects of integration are likely to be more successful in the labor market.

Researchers studying in the United States find that immigrants, for the most part, are successfully integrating into American society, particularly in terms of socioeconomic status and intermarriage (Waters and Jimenez 2005). As a result, they are more likely to follow the mainstream adaptation mode of integration. Research conducted by Alba and Nee (2003) and Foner (2000) in the United States supports this observation and indicates that immigrant children and the children of immigrant parents are more likely to succeed in schooling and in the labor market than they are to fail. And, as time in the United States increases, so do the markers of success. Thus, immigrants and children of immigrants who have spent more time in the country are more likely to have higher scholastic achievements and higher employment incomes than those who have recently arrived.

A second class of integration studies disputes the successes of newcomer youth and can be collectively considered as the underclass absorption model. These theories focus on the persistence of ethnic and immigration-based inequality in terms of power and resource allocation, and document the frequent downward occupational and economic mobility of new immigrants. Newcomers who actively reject the mainstream culture often find themselves in the lower social strata with accompanying low wages and high unemployment rates. Underclass absorption research also suggests that youth who reject mainstream values are more likely to quit school, get into trouble with the law, and practice deviant behaviors as forms of resistance to the mainstream culture (Schissel 1998). This rejection and subsequent educational failures leads to low educational attainment and low skilled, low waged employment as adults. Some immigrant and refugee youth may not have a choice in their acceptance or rejection of the dominant Canadian culture. Their situation is hindered in the expectation of teachers that newcomers will have trouble in school due to the difficulties and uncertainty with the immigration process, their past traumas, and the difficulties in learning an official language (Henkin and Liem 1984; Ima and Rumbaut 1989; Rousseau, Drapeau, and Corin 1996). Further evidence suggests that immigrant and refugee students who are held back (i.e., fail a grade or placed in grades too low for their age) are much less likely to complete high school (Driscoll 1999). These forces combine to hinder the school-to-work transitions of many immigrant and refugee youth and they are likely to find unskilled and low waged employment as a result.

The findings are similar in regards to second-generation youth in the United States where various researchers have discovered declines in education and employment relative to migrants arriving in earlier decades. Perlmann and Waldinger (1996) identify what they term "the second-generation revolt" which describes the decline in educational and economic standing among youth in relation to the successes of those arriving to the United States as immigrant children. The results of the second-generation revolt include high rates of unemployment, low educational completion, and high rates of crime. This second-generation revolt and resulting underclass absorption is particularly prevalent among second-generation children whose parents are poor and negatively influenced educational and economic advancement (Gans 1992). In Canada, Jansen, Plaza, and James (2004) find that while second-generation Caribbean youth in Toronto are generally successful, they note that discrimination in the Canadian labor market still prevents many youth from attaining secure employment as adults (Jansen et al. 2004).

In short, the school-to-work transitions literature, which shows promise in understanding the life course experiences of immigrant-born and refugee-born youth, has not been largely used to undertake extensive examinations of these two groups. Conversely, while the integration literature provides some clues as to the types of problems that immigrant-born and refugee-born youth experience, for the most part, these models describe the experiences of adults. When children and youth are investigated, the focus tends to be on educational experiences (Coeyman 1999; Chow 2000), mental health (Ahearn and Athey 1991; Hodes 1998), language acquisition (Watt and Roessingh 1994; Derwing et al. 1999), or on second-generation immigrant youth (Boyd and Grieco 1998). While these topics are extremely important in understanding certain aspects of the integration of immigrant and refugee youth, taken together, they tend to negatively portray them. What is needed is more holistic studies that adequately capture the resettlement experiences of immigrant and refugee youth so that we have a better understanding of their life course. This research is an initial step.

DATA AND DATA SOURCES

Data for this study comes from two sources. Access to the confidential master data file of the 1998 Survey on Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) cross-section individual file was granted to the researcher through the Research Data Centre Program, Statistics Canada (2002). Because the public use microdata file of SLID did not provide the immigrant status, ethnic group, country of origin, and various labor market variables crucial to differentiate immigrants from the native-born, the master data file was required. SLID is an annual telephone survey of a panel of 30,000 Canadians regarding their work patterns, labor force participation, and other aspects related to income and the economy. (1) It was selected as the comparison data set as many of its questions were used in the refugee data set. Furthermore, interviews for all study groups took place during the summer of 1998, the same time in which the refugee youth were interviewed. The sample of Canadian-born and immigrant-born youth resides in Alberta, so that the sample is compatible to the second study. (2)

The second study, The Resettlement of Refugees to Alberta (RRA), was conducted for Citizenship and Immigration Canada in the same year by researchers at the Prairie Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Integration (Abu-Laban et al. 1999). Structured interviews with 128 refugee youth aged 15-24, were conducted in seven urban centers in Alberta from July through October 1998. Their data are linked to information gathered from 123 of their parents. The refugees arrived in Canada either as convention refugees or as designated refugees. All the refugee youth in this study were permanent residents at the time of the interview. Like their Canadian-born and immigrant-born counterparts, most refugee youth live in the major urban areas with 34 percent living in Calgary, 20 percent living in Edmonton, 10 percent living in Vancouver, (3) and the remainder living in medium-sized urban centers elsewhere in Alberta.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the federal department in charge of immigration and refugees, provided a sampling frame consisting of 5,208 refugees landing in Alberta between 1992 and 1997. (4) From this frame, a systematic random sample was selected. Given the number of identical or similar survey questions, and the overlapping time frame, SLID and RRA studies are ideal for compiling a portrait of the initial labor market experiences of Canadian-born, immigrant-born, and refugee-born youth in Canada.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SAMPLE

There were 3,929 Canadian-born youth identified in the SLID data set, with 46.8 percent between the ages of 15 and 19 years and 53.2 percent aged 20-24 years. There were nearly equal numbers of males and females (50.3 percent and 49.7 percent, respectively). This survey excluded the < 1 percent of all youth who failed to provide information about their job experiences. Almost 11 percent of the Canadian-born were visible minorities.

Of the respondents in the 1998 SLID data file, 276 were immigrants. The immigrant youth were slightly older than the Canadian-born and refugee-born youth. Just over 40 percent were aged 15-19 while 59.6 percent were aged 20-24. It is predicted that the employment rate of the young adults will be greater than the employment rate for younger teenagers. Among the immigrant youth, 49 percent were female and 51 percent were male and originate from countries around the world.

The distribution of the youth in the RRA study is very similar. Fifty-two percent of the refugee youth were male, while 48 percent were female. They originated from various countries including El Salvador, Guatemala, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Poland, the former Yugoslavia, Zaire, (5) and Somalia, countries that sent the largest proportion of refugees to Canada between 1992 and 1997. The integration experiences of these youth are unique from immigrant youths; some have spent time in refugee camps, some have arrived in Canada with a parent or without parents. Others could speak English before their arrival giving them an advantage over those who could not. Just over 50 percent were aged 15-19 during the summer of 1998, while 49 percent were aged 20-24.

Operationalization of the Model

The model is comprised of a number of different variables identified from the school-to-work transitions and the integration literature. The idea is to identify the variables that most influence employment and to create a new model to adequately describe the labor market experiences of immigrant-born and refugee-born youth. If it is found that the school-to-work transitions variables best describe their experiences, then it should be considered a useful model in their future research. If the integration variables (mainstream adaptation and/or underclass absorption) have a greater influence on employment, then researchers are encouraged to use these as a basis for designing future research. Alternatively, it could be found that neither literature accurately predicts the factors influencing the employment success of immigrant and refugee youth. In this case, we must reconsider this literature and perhaps design alternative models of integration specific to these youth rather than trying to force inappropriate models on the understanding of employment.

The main dependent variable is the binary variable, "employed." It is comprised of respondents who are employed part-time or full-time (r = 1) or who are unemployed (6) (r = 0). Because the interviews of the refugees took place in the summer of 1998, the data from the respondents of SLID was adjusted accordingly. Respondents were considered employed if they were working anytime between May and August 1998. This may slightly overestimate the employment rate because summer is a time when more youth have jobs as they are free from many educational commitments. However, this was the only way to ensure equality between the samples.

The independent variables can be separated according to whether or not they are derived from the school-to-work or integration literatures. Variables informed by the school-to-work transitions literature include education attendance (were a student in 1998), total years of schooling (continuous), parents' education (university educated), and living with parents. These include sex, marital status, and health status. There are a number of variables in this model that are derived from the integration literature. These include mother tongue (or months of ESL), visible minority status, African region of origin, Central/South American region of origin, and Asia/Middle Eastern region of origin, years in Canada, refugee camp experience, sponsorship status, and urban/rural residence. These are indictors of discrimination, in varying degrees. Other variables included in this analysis are individual ascribed factors. Table A1 illustrates the construction of each variable.

Logistic regression is used to examine the factors influencing the employment experiences of immigrant-born, refugee-born, and Canadian-born youth. It is a good model of analysis because the dependent variable is binary. Variables with values lower than one decrease the probability of being employed. Variables with values higher than one increase the probability of being employed.

RESULTS

A tri-variate cross-tabulation of the dependent variable employed by gender and immigrant status reveals important details (Table 1). Overall, Canadian-born and immigrant-born youth had higher rates of employment than refugee-youth, a finding similar to other Canadian studies (see Seat 2004). For males, 72.4 percent of Canadian-born and 79.5 percent of immigrant-born were employed in the summer of 1998, versus only 65.7 percent of refugee males. For females, 77.2 percent of Canadian-born and 87.7 percent of immigrant-born were employed during that time, versus only 45.9 percent of refugee-born females. The gender differences are statistically significant for Canadian-born and refugee-born youth. These differences in employment are not surprising because all the refugee youth would have been in Canada for 5 years or less, while the Canadian-born would have grown up in Canada and many of the immigrant-born youth have been in Canada longer than 5 years.

The school-to-work transitions literature makes an important distinction between young teens and young adults (Table 2). Youth aged 15-19 years are less likely to be active in the labor market as a majority are in secondary education, while those aged 20-24 are more likely to participate given that some are finished their education and/or must use employment to finance their postsecondary studies. The results from the present analysis should be interpreted with some caution as the data on immigrant-born youth from SLID have been removed due to confidentiality concerns. Among Canadian-born youth, youth aged 15-19 years are slightly more likely (79 percent) to be working than those aged 20-24 years (73 percent). These employment rates are still higher than for comparatively aged refugee youth. Among refugees aged 15-19, only 43 percent are employed, while 70 percent of those aged 20-24 years were employed. It appears that the prediction that older youth are more likely to be employed holds only for refugee youth, though their employment rates are much lower overall.

The next part of the analysis examines the influence of various school-to-work transitions variables and integration/immigration variables in order to construct a model that reasonably predicts the factors influencing the employment chances of immigrant-born and refugee-born youth, using Canadian-born youth for comparison purposes. The model is run three times, once with all respondents (regardless of gender or age) in SLID, once by immigrant status (Canadian-born, immigrant-born, and refugee-born), and once by age group (15-19 years old and 20-24 years old) as the school-to-work transitions literature indicates that the early employment experiences differ by these groups. Unfortunately, due to the small immigrant-born sample in the SLID and the refugee-born sample in the RRA, separate models controlling for age and gender simultaneously were not possible. This is a criticism that this project cannot address, but can be considered in future research, with larger samples of both immigrant and refugee youth.

In the basic model, the following variables were considered: (7) sex, marital status, health status, student in 1998, years of schooling received outside of Canada, parents' education, mother tongue, and visible minority status (Table 3). Using logistic regression, the following comparisons of the employment statuses of Canadian-born, immigrant-born, and refugee-born youth can be made.

For Canadian-born youth, all variables in the model were statistically significant except parents' education. The model reveals that females, older youth, those who are married, have good health, those who are students, bilingual and are members of visible minority groups are more likely to be employed. Variables with the greatest influence on employment are being a student in 1998 and a member of a visible minority group. Students are nearly four times as likely as nonstudents to be employed, while members of visible minority groups are 1.7 times more likely to be employed. Another finding of note is that bilingual youth, those whose mother tongue is not English, were 50 percent more likely to be employed, perhaps recognition of their dual or multiple language ability.

For immigrant youth, the model does not fit as well. Results indicate that only two variables from the school-to-work transitions literature are statistically significant: being a student in 1998 and having university-educated parents. Students are 21.5 times more likely to be employed than nonstudents, a startling finding. This could be indicative of two things. One, that immigrant students are more likely to have to personally finance their own education due to their family's economic situation, or perhaps they are less likely to be eligible for student loans. Immigrant youth with university-educated parents are less likely to be employed. This could be an indication that these youth do not work because of their parents' stronger economic standing, because of their parents' wish that they concentrate on their studies, or because the students themselves do not wish to work. This is not an unusual finding as some parents come to Canada to give their children a "better life" and would not want their child's academic success to be jeopardized by outside economic endeavors. Regardless of the reasoning, the other variables such as visible minority status and mother tongue, variables that were predicted in the literature to negatively affect employment status, did not have any statistically significant effect.

The model fit for refugee youth was not much better. Only two variables were statistically significant: sex and years of schooling obtained outside Canada. Refugee males were nearly three times more likely than refugee females to be working--a finding that is rather expected from the school-to-work transitions literature. Those who had more years of education outside of Canada were 1.4 times more likely to be working than those with fewer years of schooling outside Canada. (8)

These findings at this point are rather lackluster. Basically, we can say that the integrated school-to-work and immigration models do not help explain the variation in employment experiences of immigrant and refugee youth. Unfortunately, this is where the analysis of the SLID must end as the sample size was either too small for the immigrants or the variables needed to investigate the integration model were not available in the Statistics Canada master data file. However, the RRA data set allows a more in-depth examination of the factors influencing employment due to the availability of other questions in this data set. The next part of the analysis examines the refugee youth in more detail. This model allows for more detailed examination of both the school-to-work transitions variables along with the immigration/integration factors.

A MORE DETAILED MODEL FOR REFUGEE YOUTH

Males, nonstudents, those with more years of education, but fewer years in Canada and those from regions other than Africa are more likely to find work in Canada. Males are two times more likely to find employment than females and likelihood of employment increases by 1.5 times for every year of education attained. When the model is separated by gender, the findings are more significant.

The model works fairly well in describing the employment opportunities of refugee males but not for females. For males, nonstudents, those more educated, not living with their parents, who have been government sponsored, having fewer months of ESL training, and are from Asia/Middle East region are more likely to be working. In fact, males from Asia/Middle East are 16 times more likely to find employment than males from elsewhere. Males who are government sponsored to Canada are also more likely to find work. The implications of these findings are discussed in the next section.

For females, the model does not work well. In fact, only one variable, years of education, had a statistically significant impact. Each year of additional schooling increases their chance of employment by 1.7 times. The indication from this analysis is that the model needs to be greatly adjusted in order to come to any understanding of the employment experiences of refugee females.

DISCUSSION

As the results indicate, the combined school-to-work transitions and integration model is a better fit for Canadian-born youth than for immigrant or refugee youth. This is probably due to the fact that the models have been designed and tested on Canadian- (and American-) born youth over a long period of time. At a superficial level, these findings support calls to design less ethnocentric models to understand the labor market transitions of immigrant and refugee youth. It is clear from this analysis that influences such as time in Canada, region of origin, mode of sponsorship, and ESL training indicate that youth transitions can vary significantly. It confirms the idea that there are real differences between immigrant and refugee youth and these should be considered in any research on newcomers. The fact that many of the integration variables do not predict the employment of immigrant and refugee youth is also an indication that this model needs to be redesigned to accommodate the experiences of youth rather than adults.

Even though the results are disappointing, the findings do provide some insights into the labor market experiences of immigrant-born and refugee-born youth. As the bivariate results indicate, although immigrant youth have the highest employment rates, their unemployment rates are nearly twice as high as the national average. Obviously, the factors that influence the employment of immigrant and refugee youth are different from those influencing Canadian-born youth. For immigrants, only two variables from the school-to-work transitions literature, being a student and parents' education, have a statistically significant influence on employment. The fact that immigrant students are more likely to be working could be indicative of several things. First, immigrant youth may be more inclined to combine employment with education to finance their schooling or assist their newly arrived families. If this is due to personality traits or economic circumstance, it cannot be determined from this analysis and warrants further investigation. Second, the results may be indicative of difficulty accessing postsecondary educational funding. Again, this ascertain cannot be tested with the existing data but is an alternative understanding of the situation faced by many immigrant youth.

For refugee youth, the results are equally disappointing. As a group, they experience the highest rates of unemployment. Some of this is mediated by the fact that none of the refugees in this study have been in Canada longer than 5 years. However, the fact that nearly one-third of those aged 20-24 years are unemployed is a cause of concern. In terms of model-fit, in the initial analysis, only sex and years of schooling in Canada have a statistically significant impact. When a separate model for males and females is constructed, the variations are only explained for refugee males. Obviously this means that we must reconfigure our models of employment for all females, regardless of their immigrant or refugee status. There may be forces outside of our models that also influence the employment prospects of refugee women. In particular, parents' unwillingness to allow their children to work may also negatively influence the employment rate of some refugee women. The findings for refugee males, however, indicate that a combination of school-to-work transitions and integration models could be useful in studying their employment prospects.

Are the labor market experiences of immigrant and refugee youth similar to Canadian-born youth? In terms of unemployment rates, their experiences are relatively similar. All three groups experience high rates of unemployment. However, the models differ in their explanatory power. The initial model explains employment for Canadian-born youth best and a revised model is needed to understand the labor market experiences of refugees--but only fits males.

The finding that all students, regardless of immigrant status, are more likely to be working than going to school is troubling. It suggests that poor funding for postsecondary educational training may be underlying the need for students to work to support their educational endeavors. Until recently, access to student loans for asylum seekers was not permitted due to their unstable resident status. A new program launched in late 2003 would allow some asylum seekers to gain access to some student loans while their applications for refugee status are considered. This would alleviate some of the inconsistencies in accessing postsecondary loans, but is not a solution for all. Many of these students, regardless of immigrant or refugee status, are working more than 30 hours per week. While some outside employment is beneficial in teaching young people how to manage and organize their time, there comes a point when work becomes distracting and begins to impede on academic performance. In other words, students must work their way through vocational training or university in order to make ends meet and too much work may negatively affect their studies and in some cases, may prevent students from completing their courses.

Several policy considerations can be drawn from these results. It is clear that targeted youth employment strategies are still required given the high rate of unemployment among all youth regardless of immigrant status. However, it may be useful to target some funds or locate some programs specifically for immigrant and refugee youth given that the factors influencing their employment differ largely from the Canadian-born. While many of the programs offered by the Canadian government may be equally open to all youth, regardless of whether they are immigrants or refugees, the programs may be inaccessible to immigrant and refugee youth for various reasons. First, some of these programs provide only transient or temporary employment such as the youth employment offices that operate only in the summer. Second, many of these programs lack a training or apprenticeship component that may be useful for introduction to the labor market. Research from the United States indicates that apprenticeship programs targeting newcomer youth provide their participants good labor market success (Lucas n.d.). Third, other studies have found that the more information immigrant and refugee parents are provided, the more likely their children are to be successful in both the labor market and educational endeavors (Lucas n.d.). Similar policies could be followed and reviewed in Canada in regards to their efficacy in helping immigrant and refugee youth adjust. Finally, immigrant and refugee youth may feel reluctant to register for these programs given that they are a "one size fits all" approach, which may not take into account some of their basic needs such as vocationally targeted language training. Programs such as these may go a long way in helping address some of their issues related to unemployment. For immigrants and refugees, the program may also provide them the "Canadian" experience they needed to find other jobs.

Another approach has been suggested for helping youth enter the labor market. In research involving Canadian-born youth, early results suggest that financial investment and services directed at families rather than youth individually, increases the chances of successful entry of youth into the labor market (see McDaniel 1998). The idea behind these programs is that healthy family units are important in stabilizing the central aspects of these youths' lives and may enable them to make a more seamless transition to the labor market. Research into the resettlement of immigrants and refugees finds similar results. Zhou and Bankston (2000) in their studies of Vietnamese youth in the United States find that youth are more likely to excel in school and in their early labor market endeavors if their families are given support (both financial and social) from their communities. As a result, programs that focus on the successful integration of the family tend to have successfully integrated and well-adjusted children (Tomanovic 1994).

CONCLUSION

As a result of somewhat small sample sizes and some incompatibility in the two data sets, this research leaves more questions than answers. Clearly this paper shows the need for more research on employment patterns of immigrant and refugee youth given the problem of small sample sizes for these two groups and the paucity of research focusing exclusively on these groups.

The revised model did not fit well for refugee females but was reasonably successful for predicting the employment of refugee males. This means that we must rethink our analytical models to better understand the characteristics of successful employment, especially for immigrant-born youth and refugee females.

Hence unfortunately the perennial conclusion that more research applies. Any student of immigration studies or ethnic relations will know that in some regards, this model needs to be refined. Owing to limitations with sample size and the utilization of an ethnocentric model design guided by the school-to-work transitions literature, we were forced to amalgamate groups of people into seemingly "homogenous" categories who clearly did not have similar histories, social class, et cetera. For this reason, we cannot adequately interpret the "meaning" behind some of the figures, for example, the finding that refugees from Southeast Asia and the Middle East are 16 times more likely to find employment than other groups when this "category" contains youth from a diverse array of countries including Vietnam, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Azerbaijan. Because of this, we cannot make substantive claims about any group without a larger sample, hence the need for more research. We do not know why, in a climate that is considerably discriminatory toward Asian and African workers, the employment rate for young males is significantly higher than for other males. One way to obtain this answer is to conduct qualitative interviews with immigrant-born and refugee-born youth so that differences and experiences can be explored in greater detail. I leave this for future study.

One final aspect must be highlighted. Much of the research on immigrant and refugee youth in Canada focuses on problems concerning their mental health in terms of adjusting to a new society, difficulties in education which focus on low performance, and language acquisition problems. This provides a skewed and largely negative portrayal of their lives. Despite these negative portrayals, many of these researchers conclude that newcomer youth are more successful than their parents (see Tsui and Sammons 1988; Hagan et al. 1996; Isajiw 1999). The results of this research indicate this is clearly not the case. Their success, however, is not guaranteed, these results clearly indicate. More research into these issues will dispel the myths that newcomer youth are just like Canadian-born youth and are more likely to be successful than their parents.

APPENDIX A

Table A1

Description of Variables

Variable name Variable description

 Individual characteristics
 Sex 1 = male, 0 = female
 Marital status 1 = married
 0 = not married
 Health status Five-point Likert (1 =poor,
 5 =very good)
School-to-work transitions features
 Age/student cross-product Continuous
 Years of schooling Continuous
 Parents' education 1 = one or both parent
 university educated
 0 = neither
 Living with parents 1 =yes, 0 = no
Integration/immigration features
 Mother tongue 1 = English
 0 = not English
 Months of ESL Continuous
 Visible minority status 1 =yes, 0 = no
 African/Middle East origin 1 =yes, 0 = no
 Central/South American 1 =yes, 0 = no
 origin
 Years in Canada Continuous
 Refugee camp experience 1 =yes; O=no
 Sponsorship status 1 = government
 0 = private
 Urban/rural residence 1 = urban, 0 = rural

Variable name Data set

 Individual characteristics
 Sex Both
 Marital status SLID only

 Health status Both

School-to-work transitions features
 Age/student cross-product Both
 Years of schooling Both
 Parents' education Both

 Living with parents Both
Integration/immigration features
 Mother tongue SLID only

 Months of ESL RRA only
 Visible minority status Both
 African/Middle East origin RRA only
 Central/South American RRA only
 origin
 Years in Canada RRA only
 Refugee camp experience RRA only
 Sponsorship status RRA only

 Urban/rural residence RRA only

APPENDIX B

Table B1

Weighted Correlation Matrix for Canadian Youth

 Marital
 Sex Age status

Sex 1.000
Age .007 1.000
Marital status -.061 .297 1.000
Health status .079 -.089 -.061
Student in 1998 -.024 -.142 -.289
Parents' education -.024 -.023 -.078
Years of schooling .002 .573 .033
Visible minority status -.009 .005 -.075

 Health Student Parents'
 status in 1998 education

Sex
Age
Marital status
Health status 1.000
Student in 1998 .172 1.000
Parents' education .092 .150 1.000
Years of schooling .061 .284 .018
Visible minority status .009 .078 .044

 Years of Visible
 schooling minority

Sex
Age
Marital status
Health status
Student in 1998
Parents' education
Years of schooling 1.000
Visible minority status .037 1.000

APPENDIX C

Table C1

Weighted Correlation Matrix for Immigrant Youth

 Marital Health
 Sex Age status status

Sex 1.000
Age -.046 1.000
Marital status -.177 .318 1.000
Health status .190 -.052 -.052 1.000
Student in 1998 .086 -.140 -.363 .074
Parents' education .043 -.123 -.133 .209
Years of schooling .007 .193 .018 .004
Mother tongue -.023 -.078 -.004 .017
Visible minority status -.032 -.007 -.023 -.170

 Student Parents' Years of Mother
 in 1998 education schooling tongue

Sex
Age
Marital status
Health status
Student in 1998 1.000
Parents' education .282 1.000
Years of schooling .179 -.022 1.000
Mother tongue .063 .214 -.221 1.000
Visible minority status -.062 -.210 .064 -.286

 Visible
 minority

Sex
Age
Marital status
Health status
Student in 1998
Parents' education
Years of schooling
Mother tongue
Visible minority status 1.000

APPENDIX D

Table D1

Weighted Correlation Matrix for Refugee Youth

 Marital Health Student
 Sex status status age/c.p.

Sex 1.000
Marital status -.285 1.000
Health .000 -.109 1.000
Student/age -.278 -.278 .039 1.000
 xprod.
Parents' -.062 -.104 .048 .069
 education
Years of -.121 -.007 -.149 .141
 schooling
Live with -.018 -.447 .023 .355
 parents
Refugee camp .016 .152 -.022 -.051
Years in -.130 -.130 -.149 .212
 Canada
Sponsorship .020 .071 .258 .019
 status
Months in ESL .079 -.094 .072 .103
C/S American .212 -.096 .061 -.091
 region
Asia/Middle .048 .048 -.306 .021
 East region
Africa region -.130 .165 -.024 -.135

 Years Live
 Parents' of with Refugee
 education school parents camp

Sex
Marital status
Health
Student/age
 xprod.
Parents' 1.000
 education
Years of .085 1.000
 schooling
Live with .167 .050 1.000
 parents
Refugee camp -.287 -.008 -.082 1.000
Years in -.132 .090 .095 -.094
 Canada
Sponsorship -.250 .090 -.105 .191
 status
Months in ESL -.148 -.214 -.009 .040
C/S American -.027 -.079 -.166 -.315
 region
Asia/Middle -.093 -.099 .030 .036
 East region
Africa region -.101 -.087 -.158 .286

 Years
 in Sponsor Months C/S
 Canada status ESL America

Sex
Marital status
Health
Student/age
 xprod.
Parents'
 education
Years of
 schooling
Live with
 parents
Refugee camp
Years in 1.000
 Canada
Sponsorship -.133 1.000
 status
Months in ESL .212 .184 1.000
C/S American .365 .058 .365 1.000
 region
Asia/Middle .066 -.372 .024 -.245
 East region
Africa region -.243 .207 .057 -.129

 Asia/ME Africa
 region region

Sex
Marital status
Health
Student/age
 xprod.
Parents'
 education
Years of
 schooling
Live with
 parents
Refugee camp
Years in
 Canada
Sponsorship
 status
Months in ESL
C/S American
 region
Asia/Middle 1.000
 East region
Africa region -.161 1.000

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(1.) Labor market information was not available for approximately 1 percent of all youth in the SLID 1998 sample, so they were excluded from the study.

(2.) It was not possible to release the data on city of residence for Canadian- and immigrant-born youth in the SLID sample given concerns over confidentiality. The city of residence distribution is relatively similar to that reported for the RRA study.

(3.) Some families had moved in the 3 months between the time they were identified and contacted for the interview. We had an opportunity to track and interview these families, which we did. One of the major objectives of the study was to track the secondary migration of refugee families destined to Alberta.

(4.) Refugee claimants, dependents sponsored by family members, and refugees without available addresses were not included in the sample frame.

(5.) Known now as the Democratic Republic of Congo, "Zaire" is used throughout this paper as this is the self-reported label given by the respondents to the survey.

(6.) Not being "active in the labor force" is very different from being employed or unemployed. Very few immigrant, refugee, and Canadian-born youth reported that they were not looking for employment and were thus excluded from the analysis.

(7.) Note that the variables entered were the same for both the SLID and RRA data sets. Owing to differences across both surveys, it was not possible to compare other important variables influencing employment experiences. However, a fuller model addresses this problem in the refugee sample in Table 5.

(8.) It should be noted that age and years of schooling outside Canada are not correlated for refugee youth. Furthermore, all refugees in the RRA sample reported having at least some education before their arrival to Canada.

LORI WILKINSON University of Manitoba

Lori Wilkinson, Department of Sociology, University of Manitoba, 331 Isbister Building, Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3T 2N2. E-mail: [email protected]. Funding from the Prairie Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Integration made this work possible. The Research Data Centre of Statistics Canada provided invaluable advice relating to the statistical analysis and access to the confidential data from the 1998 Survey on Labour and Income Dynamics. All errors and omissions are the responsibility of the author. Parts of the research and analysis are based on confidential microdata received from Statistics Canada and the opinions expressed do not represent the views of Statistics Canada.

Table 1
Employment Status by Gender and Immigration
Status, 1998

 Canadian-born youth

 Males Females

 N % N %

Employed 1,513 72.4 1,421 77.2
Unemployed 576 27.6 419 22.8
Total 2,089 100.0 1,840 100.0

 Immigrant-born youth

 Males Females

 N % N %

Employed 116 79.5 114 87.7
Unemployed 30 20.5 16 12.3
Total 146 100.0 130 100.0

 Refugee-born youth

 Males Females

 N % N %

Employed 44 65.7 28 45.9
Unemployed 23 34.3 33 54.1
Total 67 100.0 61 100.0

Note: Chi-square is significant at p < .01 for Canadian-born youth
and p<.05 for refugee youth.

Sources: Statistics Canada (1998) Survey on Labour and Income
Dynamics, special tabulations, microdata file. Ottawa: Minister of
Public Works and Government Services; Abu-Laban et al. (1999) The
Resettlement of Refugees to Alberta Study. Edmonton and Ottawa:
Prairie Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and
Integration and Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Edmonton
Office.

Table 2
Employment Status by Age Group and
Immigration Status, 1998

 Canadian-born youth

 Ages 15-19 years Ages 20-24 years

 N %n N %n

Employed 891 79.2 2,043 72.8
Unemployed 234 20.8 762 27.2
Total 1,125 100.0 2,805 100.0

 Immigrant-born youth

 Ages 15-19 years Ages 20-24 years

 N %n N %

Employed 68 N/A 162 N/A
Unemployed N/A N/A N/A N/A
Total N/A 100.0 162 N/A

 Refugee-born youth

 Ages 15-19 years Ages 20-24 years

 N % N

Employed 28 43.1 44 69.8
Unemployed 37 56.9 19 30.2
Total 65 100.0 63 100.0

Note: Chi-square is significant at p<.01 for Canadian-born youth
and p<.05 for refugee youth.

Sources: Statistics Canada (1998) Survey on Labour and Income
Dynamics, special tabulations, microdata file. Ottawa: Minister of
Public Works and Government Services; Abu-Laban et al. (1999) The
Resettlement of Refugees to Alberta Study. Edmonton and Ottawa:
Prairie Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and
Integration and Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Edmonton
Office.

Table 3
Basic SWT/Integration Model, Canadian-, Immigrant-, and
Refugee-Born Youth Compared, 1998

 Canadian born Immigrant born

 Logged odds SE Logged odds SE

Sex .837 * .080 .439 .695
Age (a) 1.083 ** .020 1.010 .191
Marital status 1.287 * .118 1.042 .988
Health status 1.271 ** .047 1.276 .389
Student in 1998 (a) 3.995 ** .097 21.582 ** .931
Parents' Education 1.069 .039 .523 * .289
Years of schooling N/A N/A 1.064 .063
Mother tongue (b) .599 ** .196 .674 .789
Visible minority status 1.659 * .216 .329 .761
Constant .173 ** 5.336

 Refugee born

 Logged odds SE

Sex 2.992 ** .425
Age (a) .942 .029
Marital status .774 .676
Health status 1.158 .130
Student in 1998 (a) N/A N/A
Parents' Education .555 .428
Years of schooling 1.392 ** .104
Mother tongue (b) N/A
Visible minority status .950 .420
Constant .086

Notes:

* <.05;

** p<.01.

(a) Due to the high correlation between age and student in the RRA,
a cross-product was created for refugee youth.

(b) Because all refugee youth reported mother tongues other than
English, this variable was omitted from the analysis of refugee
youth.

Sources: Statistics Canada (1998) SLID special tabulations;
Abu-Laban et al. (1999) RRA Study.

Table 4
Revised Model: Factors Influencing the Employment
of Refugees in Canada, 1998

 All refugees Females

 Logged odds SE Logged odds SE

Sex 2.613 * .455 N/A
Health 1.190 .149 1.338 .269
Student/age xprod. .938 * .033 .939 .054
Years of education 1.541 ** .147 1.731 ** .214
Parents' education .510 .477 .531 .789
Live with parents .663 .654 1.959 1.033
Refugee camp 1.262 .538 1.568 .903
Years in Canada .737 .164 .710 .260
Sponsorship status 1.464 .504 .670 .815
Months in ESL .969 .025 1.010 .039
C/S American region 2.431 .804 2.657 1.667
Asia/Middle East region 1.262 .580 .374 .827
Africa region .140 * 1.002 .108 1.495
Constant .030 .001

 Males

 Logged odds SE

Sex N/A
Health 1.098 .26
Student/age xprod. .884 * .06
Years of education 1.899 * .293
Parents' education .399 .795
Live with parents .047 * 1.479
Refugee camp 2.570 .977
Years in Canada .660 .277
Sponsorship status 10.195 * 1.026
Months in ESL .872 ** .053
C/S American region 11.776 * 1.262
Asia/Middle East region 17.318 * 1.287
Africa region .057 2.649
Constant .643

Notes:

* p <.05;
** p <.01.

Sources: Abu-Laban et al. (1998) RRA Study.