1. The Economic Performance Of Recent Mainland Chinese Immigrants In Toronto Lucia Lo York University

2. A paradox Recent mainland Chinese immigrants are highly educated They are overtly underemployed or unemployed Upgrading Return migration Family breakup Mental health problems

3. Objectives To analyse the recent flow of migrants from mainland China to see how they perform economically in Toronto To search for possible explanations behind the outcomes and assess the factors that influence their social mobility

4. Chinese immigration to Canada Source: Facts and Figures, various years

5. Characteristics of recent mainland Chinese immigrants

6. Analysis of 2001 census data 1.Work status 2.Occupation 3.Employment income Compared recent Chinese immigrants to –Total Toronto population –Non-Chinese immigrants –All Chinese immigrants –…….. Controlling for education, age and gender

7. High % not working relative to size of working age population Unemployed or still at school? Work status

8. Occupation SMLegislators and senior management MMMiddle & other management AProfessionals BW Semi-professionals, technicians, administrative, senior clerical, sales & service BBSupervisors, foremen & women, skilled crafts and trades CWClerical workers, sales & service CBSemi-skilled manual workers DSales & Service, other manual workers

9. Occupation location quotients: recent Chinese immigrants to total population

10. 3.Women are especially concentrated in low-skilled jobs, more so for the highly educated than the lesser educated 2.Under-representation in professional and skilled jobs especially with women and the older age group 4.Age seems a discriminating factor 5.Education counts more for men 1.Both men and women, irrespective of their education, are over-represented in semi-skilled blue-collar and unskilled manual jobs

11. Occupation location quotients: recent Chinese immigrants to all Chinese immigrants

12. Mainland Chinese immigrants more likely than other Chinese to work in low-skill sectors They are more likely to work in “blue-collar” areas Those age 25-34 are more similar to Chinese in general in professional and skilled occupations Same for those with postgraduate qualifications

13. Income Average employment income Low income cut off $18300 for a single individual

14. Average employment income

15. Except for a few, most age-gender groups made less than an average Torontonian Many live below the poverty line University trained in low-skilled jobs are particularly vulnerable in income terms

16. Average employment income ratios Recent Chinese to total population Recent Chinese to all Chinese

17. Most age-gender-occupation groups made between 30 to 60% of what an average Torontonian made in 2001 Older immigrants fared worse Male immigrants fared worse No advantage associated with increasing education except for male 25-34 in skilled jobs Compared to all Chinese immigrants, young men age 25-34 more likely to attain parity

18. Overall 1.Young men seem to be performing better economically Possible explanations: –Better language skill (English language training now popular in China) –In technical field where math is more important than verbal communication –Possibility of many having Canadian education (visa students → landed immigrants)

19. Overall 2.Underpayment is a norm even for those not underemployed Possible explanations: –Pre-migration work experience discounted? –Culture of not bargaining at the workplace? –…..