Are immigrant wages affected by the source of job search information? (2010)

What are the labour market outcomes – in this case defined as average hourly wages – for currently employed immigrants, based on the source of information used to find their job?

Key findings:

Only tentative conclusions can be reached from the data compiled in this report. In part, this is because the source of information is only one factor that might contribute to labour market outcomes. It is also worth bearing in mind that the data presented here represent a relatively small sample of employed immigrants that does not differentiate between permanent residents, naturalized
Canadian citizens and visa holders.

Conclusions:

• Employed immigrants who found their current job through news stories, union postings, and recruitment agencies had the highest average hourly wages.
• Employed immigrants who found their current job through personal initiative, family or friends, and Canada Employment Centres had the lowest average hourly wages.
• Immigrants who had found their current job through news stories, job fairs, the internet, Canada Employment Centres, or help wanted ads earned more than Canadian-born who had found their job through the same source of information.
• Immigrants are more likely to have found their current jobs through sources of information resulting in lower wages (family and friends, personal initiative), than those providing access to higher wages (union postings, news stories or recruitment agencies).
• The longer immigrants have been in Canada, the higher their average hourly wages.
• Among immigrants with lower wages, recent immigrants and women fare the worst. Recent immigrants however had higher wages when they found their job through the internet or by personal initiative.
• Immigrant women fare worse than Canadian-born women, Canadian-born men, and immigrant men.