Episodes of Non-Employment Among Immigrants to Canada from Developing Countries

Abstract

Using data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) we analyze non-employment episodes for immigrants from developing countries and compare their situation to that of immigrants from more developed countries and Canadian-born individuals between 1996 and 2006. The methods used allowed us to draw the following conclusion: significant differences exist between these three groups in the labour market mobility, the average duration of a non-employment episode, and the factors that affect the propensity to exit from a non-employment episode. These differences demonstrate a particular disadvantage for immigrants from developing countries. In fact, they tend to spend more time in non-employment episodes compared to their counterparts from the more developed countries and compared to Canadian-born individuals. A partir des donnees de l'Enquete sur la Dynamique du Travail et du Revenu (EDTR), nous analysons la situation des immigrants des pays en voie de developpement au Canada en matiere de non-emploi et leur situation par rapport aux immigrants des pays developpes et personnes nees au Canada durant la periode 1996-2006. Les methodes utilisees nous ont permis de tirer la conclusion suivante : il existe des differences importantes entre les trois groupes au niveau de la mobilite dans le marche de l'emploi, la duree moyenne passee dans un episode de non-emploi et les facteurs qui agissent sur la propension a sortir d'un episode de non-emploi. Ces differences demontrent un desavantage particulier pour les immigrants originaires des pays en developpement. En effet, ces derniers tendent a passer beaucoup plus de temps dans un episode de non-emploi comparativement a leurs homologues immigrants issus des pays developpes et les Canadiens de naissance.