The median entry wage of new immigrants decreased by 10.6% in 2023 but remained above its pre-COVID-19 pandemic level
Released: 2025-12-08
The median wage earned by new immigrants in Canada one year after admission can be a good predictor of their future economic outcomes. The real median entry wage (after adjusting for inflation) of newcomers decreased by 10.6% from 2022 to 2023, the largest decline since 1991.
This drop among immigrants from 2022 to 2023 occurred amid a 1.1% increase in the overall real median wage of Canadians over this period. While entry wages decreased across most immigrant categories, the overall decline is partly related to the fact that the proportion of immigrants admitted as principal applicants under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), who typically have a higher entry wage, reached an all-time high in 2021, but fell below 2019 pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels in 2022.
This Daily release explores the economic outcomes of recent immigrants in the 2024 Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB). It outlines variations in the economic outcomes of newcomers by admission category, pre-admission experience and province. The IMDB is the result of a collaboration between Statistics Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), and the provinces.
Infographic 1
Median entry wage of immigrants and percentage change from previous year, tax year 1990 to 2023
The median entry wage for new immigrants decreases more in 2023 than in 2020, but remains higher than every other year prior to 2021
The median entry wage of immigrants steadily increased from 2010 to 2022, except in 2020 when wages were impacted by the pandemic.
From 2020 to 2021, the real median entry wage of immigrants rose by over one-fifth (+21.2%), increasing from $34,400 to $41,700. It then rose a further 6.7% year over year to $44,500 in 2022. In 2023, the median entry wage of immigrants declined by 10.6% to $39,800 but remained higher than the median entry wage in 2020 ($34,400) and every other year prior to 2021.
This was a relatively large decline, given that the overall real median wage of Canadians increased by 1.1% to $47,650 in 2023.
The decrease in the number of Canadian Experience Class principal applicants admitted in 2022 may contribute to the overall decline of the median entry wage of new immigrants in 2023
In 2023, immigrants from each of the main admission categories saw their median entry wage decline compared with the previous year. Specifically, the median entry wage declined for spouse and dependent economic immigrants (-7.3% year over year to $34,400), for immigrants sponsored by family (-4.1% to $30,300) and for refugees (-1.9% to $25,900).
Economic principal applicants, who are selected for their ability to contribute to Canada's economic development, had the highest median entry wage among the four main admission categories at $51,500 in 2023. While this was a 5.5% decline from the previous year, each of the specific programs within the economic principal applicant stream experienced smaller decreases or even increases in entry wage.
In 2023, CEC principal applicants, who are selected based on their Canadian work experience, remained the admission category with the highest median entry wage. Their median entry wage rose 3.4% to $60,600 in 2023, following a decline in 2022 from its peak in 2021 ($71,000).
In 2023, principal applicants from the skilled worker and skilled trades (-4.4% to $56,000) and provincial/territorial nominee (-3.8% to $47,700) programs saw their entry median wages decrease from a year earlier. Business (-2.4% to $24,900) and caregiver (+4.9% to $38,500) principal applicants had the lowest entry income among economic principal applicants.
The decreases in the median entry wages by admission categories in 2023 were mostly smaller than what was observed for the overall immigrant population (-10.6%). This discrepancy is likely related to changes in the makeup of the immigrant population and their admission categories.
In 2021, IRCC specifically invited express entry candidates, who were more likely to be physically located in Canada and therefore less impacted by pandemic-related border restrictions, to apply for permanent residency. This was done, in part, by increasing the number of immigrants admitted through the CEC program, the category with the highest median entry wage. Specifically, the share of immigrants aged 15 years and older admitted as CEC principal applicants increased from 12% in 2020 to 27% in 2021. This change contributed to the growth of the entry wage of all new immigrants in 2022. With the removal of border restrictions in 2022, CEC principal applicants were less targeted, and their share declined to 5% in that year. This, in addition to the other factors at play during the post-pandemic period, contributed to the overall reduction in the entry wages of new immigrants in 2023.
Chart 1
Median entry wage of economic principal applicants by admission category, tax year 2019 to 2023
Among economic principal applicants admitted in 2013, skilled workers and skilled trades principal applicants saw their median wage grow the fastest over the following decade
While median entry wage is a good indicator of the short-term economic outcomes of new immigrants, it is also relevant to consider how their wages evolve over longer periods of time. Immigrants admitted in 2013 saw their real median wage increase by 74.8% over the following decade, rising from $27,400 in 2014 to $47,900 in 2023.
The wage trajectory of economic principal applicants varied between admission categories. In 2014, the median wage of economic principal applicants admitted a year earlier was the highest for the CEC ($64,000), followed by provincial and territorial nominees ($47,000), skilled workers and skilled trades ($31,300), and caregivers ($31,300). Meanwhile, it was the lowest among those from business programs ($19,900).
A decade later, in 2023, CEC principal applicants of the 2013 admission cohort remained the category with the highest median wage, at $92,100 (+43.9%). They were followed by skilled worker and skilled trade (+131.0% to $72,300), provincial/territorial nominee (+40.6% to $66,100) and caregiver (+56.9% to $49,100) principal applicants.
Business program principal applicants continued to have the lowest median wage in 2023, at $27,900 (+40.2%).
Chart 2
Median wage of immigrants admitted in 2013 for total immigrants and for economic principal applicants by admission category, tax year 2014 to 2023
Immigrants with pre-admission work experience see their median entry wage decrease in 2023
Pre-admission work experience can help boost entry wages of immigrants upon admission. Immigrants with work permits only (-7.6% to $50,000) and those with both work and study permits (-3.0% to $48,700) prior to admission had the highest entry median wages in 2023, though both were down from a year earlier.
For immigrants with both work and study permits prior to admission, 2023 marked their lowest median entry wage recorded since 2017 ($48,200).
Chart 3
Median entry wage of immigrants by pre-admission experience, tax year 2019 to 2023
In contrast, in 2023, immigrants with a study permit only prior to admission had a median entry wage of $20,100, up 11.0% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, those without pre-admission experience had an entry wage of $32,600 (+12.4%), while immigrants who had an asylum claim prior to admission had an entry wage of $34,700 (+7.4%). For these three categories, this was the highest median entry wage in a decade.
In 2023, none of the pre-admission experience groups saw their entry median wage decrease as much as what was observed for the overall immigrant population (-10.6%). Again, changes in the cohort of newcomers from 2021 to 2022 may also be a factor. The share of immigrants aged 15 years and older admitted with both a work and a study permit (the pre-admission experience category with one of the highest median entry wages), declined from 39% in 2021 to 22% in 2022. Most of this decline can be attributed to the decrease in CEC principal applicants with work and study pre-admission experience in Canada.
The median entry wage grew faster for immigrants in Quebec and New Brunswick than in other provinces during the decade from 2014 to 2023
The median entry wage of immigrants admitted one year earlier rose by 45.3% over the course of a decade, increasing from $27,400 in 2014 to $39,800 in 2023.
In 2014, immigrants in Quebec ($22,400) and New Brunswick ($23,700) had the lowest median entry wage among the provinces. A decade later, the entry wage of immigrants in these two provinces were among the highest in the country. For example, the entry wage of immigrants in Quebec rose 96.4% over a decade to $44,000 in 2023, while in New Brunswick, the entry wage of immigrants rose 70.5% to $40,400. As a result, in 2023, the median entry wage of immigrants in Quebec was the highest of all provinces, while New Brunswick came third after British Columbia ($43,100).
Immigrants in Alberta ($37,600), Saskatchewan ($37,000) and Newfoundland and Labrador ($36,900) had the highest median entry wage of all provinces in 2014. By 2023, however, the entry wage in Alberta had fallen by 6.4% to $35,200, while in Saskatchewan, the entry wage had decreased 9.2% to $33,600 and in Newfoundland and Labrador, it had fallen 1.6% to $36,300, placing all three provinces below the overall level for Canada ($39,800).
Immigrants in the territories saw their median entry wage increase from $43,100 in 2014 to $56,500 in 2023. Throughout this period, they consistently had a higher median entry wage than immigrants of all the provinces.
A second release, to be published on December 19, 2025, will examine the mobility of immigrants.
Chart 4
Median entry wages of immigrants by province and for the territories, tax year 2014, 2017, 2020 and 2023
Note to readers
Definitions and concepts
The Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) is a comprehensive source of data that plays a key role in understanding the economic behaviour of immigrants and non-permanent residents. It is the only annual Canadian dataset that allows users to study the characteristics of immigrants to Canada at time of admission and the economic outcomes and regional mobility of immigrants over a period of more than 40 years.
The IMDB is the result of a partnership between Statistics Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), and the provinces. The IMDB combines administrative files on immigrant admissions and non-permanent resident permits from IRCC with tax files from the Canada Revenue Agency. IRCC's administrative records contain extensive information on immigrants admitted to Canada since 1952. They also include information on non-permanent residents who have been granted a temporary resident permit since 1980. Tax records for 1982 and subsequent years are available for immigrant taxfilers.
The IMDB links short- and long-term outcomes to characteristics at admission, such as immigrant admission class, country of origin and knowledge of official languages. The IMDB also provides information on pre-admission experience in Canada and citizenship acquisition since 2005.
It is to be noted that the IMDB is updated annually. From year to year, there have been changes to data processing. Each yearly update is independent.
This release analyzes wages based on the medians of wages (for the population with wages, salaries or commissions wage, excluding self-employment wage). The median is the wage threshold at which a half of the immigrant taxfilers have a higher wage and the other half have a lower wage. Zero values are not included in the calculation of medians for individuals. All wage estimates are expressed in 2023 constant dollars to factor in inflation and enable comparisons across time in real terms.
Median wage is the amount that divides an income distribution into two halves. It is the income level at which half of the units have income above it and half below it.
Median entry wage in this analysis is the median wage reported one year after admission to Canada as a permanent resident.
In this release, the comparison between the evolution of the median entry wage of immigrants and the median wage of the overall Canadian population did not take into account the differences in the characteristics of both populations, such as age and education. However, the overall economic outcomes of the Canadian population remain an important element of context when studying the evolution of the entry wages of immigrants.
Pre-admission experience refers to the category under which an immigrant was authorized to enter Canada for temporary residence purposes before admission as a landed immigrant or permanent resident.
Taxfilers are immigrants who have filed a tax return for a given taxation year.
Economic immigrant admission categories include immigrants who have been selected for their ability to contribute to Canada's economy through their ability to meet labour market needs, to own and manage or to build a business, to make a substantial investment, to create their own employment or to meet specific provincial or territorial labour market needs.
Immigrant-sponsored family categories include immigrants who were sponsored by a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and were granted permanent resident status based on their relationship either as the spouse, partner, parent, grandparent, child or other relative of this sponsor. The terms 'family class' or 'family reunification' are sometimes used to refer to this category.
Refugee categories include immigrants who were granted permanent resident status based on a well-founded fear of returning to their home country. This category includes persons who had a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or for political opinion (Geneva Convention refugees) as well as persons who had been seriously and personally affected by civil war or armed conflict or had suffered a massive violation of human rights. Some refugees were in Canada when they applied for refugee protection for themselves and their family members (either with them in Canada or abroad), while others were abroad and were referred for resettlement to Canada by the United Nations Refugee Agency, another designated referral organization or private sponsors.
Principal applicant is the person submitting the immigration application and the individual being assessed on admission criteria under each of the admission categories, while their accompanying spouse and dependents are admitted automatically with the principal applicant.
For a more detailed description of the immigrant admission categories, see the IRCC Glossary.
Products
The Longitudinal Immigration Database 2023, including the wages and salary module (1997 to 2024), is now available upon request.
The publication "Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) Technical Report, 2024" is now available as part of the series Analytical Studies: Methods and References (11-633-X).
The data visualization tool "Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) Interactive Application: Economic Outcomes" is now available as part of the series Statistics Canada - Data Visualization Products (71-607-X).
The products are available on the Immigrants and Non-Permanent Resident Statistics portal. The portal was designed to provide easy and free access to immigrant and non-permanent resident data and publications.
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).
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