Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada

This release contains the first results from the second wave of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC). The LSIC was designed to study how new immigrants adjust over time to living in Canada. During the first wave of the LSIC, about 12,000 immigrants representing 164,200 people aged 15 and over were interviewed between April 2001 and May 2002, about six months after their arrival. During the second wave of the LSIC, about 9,300 immigrants from the first wave representing 160,800 people were interviewed again in 2003, approximately two years after their arrival. These were individuals who remained in Canada for two years and whom Statistics Canada was able to locate. The third wave of the LSIC is currently in the field, and collects information from these same immigrants four years after their arrival.

Results from the first wave of the LSIC ¹ showed that labour market integration is a particularly critical aspect of the immigrant settlement process. This release therefore focuses on this issue. The release addresses questions such as: how long does it take new immigrants to get their first job? How many of them find employment in their intended occupation? And what obstacles do they encounter when looking for work?

Given the focus on labour market integration, the analysis is limited to the 6,000 immigrants who were in the prime working-age group of 25 to 44 years, representing 106,600 people. Immigrants who were aged 15 to 24 or aged 45 or older are excluded in order to remove the effects of students, late labour market entrants and retirees from the analysis.

Moreover, particular emphasis is placed on principal applicants in the skilled worker category, since these individuals are admitted to Canada because of their high level of labour market skills. Finally, labour market integration is examined over the first two years in Canada, broadly defined as the 24 to 28 months between landing and the time of the second LSIC interview.

Immigration categories

Canada’s immigration policy has been guided by three broad objectives: to foster a strong viable economy in all regions of Canada, to reunite families, and to fulfill the country’s international obligations and humanitarian tradition with respect to refugees.

These objectives are reflected through the three main immigration categories under which people are admitted to Canada as permanent residents: economic immigrants, family-class immigrants and refugees.

People admitted through the economic category include principal applicants and accompanying spouses or dependants of skilled workers, business immigrants and provincial/territorial nominees. Skilled worker principal applicants are selected based on a number of criteria including their education, language ability and employment skills. These immigrants are deemed to be more likely to succeed in the labour force and contribute to the Canadian economy. Spouses and dependent children of skilled worker principal applicants are admitted without an evaluation of their skills.

The largest share of immigrants aged 25 to 44 in the LSIC (76%) were admitted under the skilled worker category — 47% as principal applicants and 29% as accompanying spouse or dependents. About three-quarters (76%) of the principal applicants are men, while slightly more than eight in ten (82%) of the spouses or dependents are women. The vast majority (87%) of the principal applicants in the skilled worker category have a university degree.

Immigrants in the family category accounted for 15% of immigrants aged 25 to 44 in the LSIC, while refugees accounted for 5%. The remaining 5% ² was mainly comprised of business class immigrants and provincial nominees.

Across all immigration categories, more than two thirds (68%) of all prime working-age immigrants arrived in Canada with a university degree.