Economic and Social Reports, February 2024

Released: 2024-02-28

Four new articles are available in today's release of Economic and Social Reports.

Number of women inventors growing at a faster pace than that of men inventors

Patents are important contributors to innovation, but few studies have looked at the individuals behind the patents. The study "A profile of women inventors in Canada" compares the characteristics of women inventors in Canada with those of men inventors.

From 2005 to 2019, Canadian men inventors outnumbered women inventors, but the number of women inventors grew at a faster pace. Compared with men, women inventors were more likely to be younger (31.9% were younger than 35 years compared with 23.0% of men in 2019), a higher proportion of them were immigrants (44.3% compared with 34.2% of men in 2019) and they were more likely to "co-patent" (joint application for a patent). Women inventors were more heavily concentrated in large businesses, and a higher proportion worked in professional, scientific and technical services. The study also found that one-half of women inventors were repeat inventors, submitting more than one patent application over time.

Lower high school graduation and postsecondary enrolment rates of Black and Latin American youth compared with White youth mainly associated with lower academic performance

Rates of high school graduation vary across population groups in Canada. The study "High school graduation and postsecondary enrolment of Black, Latin American and other population groups: What explains the differences?" followed eight cohorts of Grade 9 students in British Columbia to examine factors associated with differences in educational outcomes.

In all population groups, girls were more likely than boys to graduate high school on time (ranging from 85.4% to 95.1% for girls versus 80.6% to 92.7% for boys). On-time high school graduation rates varied across population groups, with lower rates registered by Latin American, Black and West Asian students and higher rates for Japanese, Korean, Chinese and South Asian students.

Rates of postsecondary enrolment (certificate, diploma or degree programs) also differed across population groups. Enrolment rates were lowest among Latin American, Black and White youth (55.4% to 58.3% for boys and 66.0% to 69.8% for girls) and highest among Chinese, Korean and South Asian youth (82.0% to 88.4% for boys and 87.1% to 90.5% for girls).

Lower Grade 10 marks in English, science and math accounted for a large share of the gaps in educational outcomes between Black and Latin American youth and White youth, compared with differences in other factors such as parental income, parental presence, neighbourhood, immigrant status and high school attended. Differences in academic performance between these groups may have existed at least as early as Grade 4 and may have been the result of different experiences at very young ages at school, at home or in social situations. In particular, although differences in parental income around the time of high school graduation did not account for a large share of the educational outcome gaps, parental income during a child's early years may have affected educational outcomes indirectly through its early influence on academic performance.

Canadian citizenship rate among recent immigrants on the decline

Among recent immigrants to Canada, the citizenship rate—the proportion of immigrants who acquire Canadian citizenship after they meet the residency requirement—has decreased from 75% in 1996 to 46% in 2021. The study "The decline in the citizenship rate among recent immigrants to Canada: Update to 2021" examines the trends in citizenship rates among recent immigrants who have been in Canada for five to nine years. Canadian citizenship grants immigrants the right to vote.

Almost half of this decline in citizenship rates occurred from 2016 to 2021, with approximately 40% of the decrease possibly related to the COVID-19 pandemic and interruptions in application processing. However, net of the possible pandemic impacts, citizenship rates declined at a faster pace from 2016 to 2021 than during any other five-year period since 1996.

This decline in citizenship rates was larger among recent immigrants with lower levels of education, lower family income and lower language skills. The decrease was also more substantial among recent immigrants from East Asia, Southeast Asia and West Asia than among their counterparts from the United States and Western Europe.

New immigrants in Canada experience faster employment rate growth than Canadian-born workers

Recent immigrants aged 25 to 54 have experienced faster employment rate growth than their Canadian-born peers. The study "The improvement in the labour market outcomes of recent immigrants since the mid-2010s" provides updated insights into the employment rates and earnings of recent immigrants who arrived in Canada in the past 10 years. From 2015 to 2023, there was a notable increase of 8 percentage points in the employment rate among recent immigrants, compared with a 3 percentage point rise among Canadian-born workers.

The gap in weekly earnings between recent immigrants and Canadian-born workers has narrowed; from 2015 to 2020, the gap shrank from 20% to 13% for men and from 20% to 16% for women. These trends remained even after adjusting for differences in sociodemographic characteristics between recent immigrants and Canadian-born workers. These improvements are likely related to the increased selection of economic immigrants from the pool of temporary foreign workers and international students, the implementation of the Express Entry system for immigration selection, and favourable economic conditions. The labour market outcomes of immigrants are an important indicator of the alignment between the supply of immigrant labour and the demand within the labour market.

This article is part of a series of "Spotlight on data and research" articles focusing on challenges and opportunities currently shaping Canada's economic landscape. The first in the series, "Risks to Canada's corporate sector as interest rates rise," was published in the January issue.

Products

The February 2024 issue of Economic and Social Reports, Vol. 4, no. 02 (Catalogue number36280001), is now available. This issue contains the articles "A profile of women inventors in Canada," "High school graduation and postsecondary enrolment of Black, Latin American and other population groups: What explains the differences?," "The decline in the citizenship rate among recent immigrants to Canada: Update to 2021," and "The improvement in the labour market outcomes of recent immigrants since the mid-2010s."

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).