At an annual rate of about 0.8% of its population, Canada has one of the higher inflows of permanent residents among OECD countries. Despite the relatively high rate of immigration, Canada shows the most equality in employment rates between the Canadian-born and immigrant-born populations. In terms of labour force participation, the disparity in rates between Canadian-born and immigrant-born females is the lowest among OECD countries and the difference among males is negligible. Nevertheless immigrants do face challenges integrating into the Canadian labour market.

Results from the 2006 Census show that earnings disparities between recent immigrants and Canadian-born workers continued to increase into the first decade of the 2000s. In 1980, recent immigrant men with employment income earned 85 cents for each dollar received by Canadian-born men. By 2000, the ratio had dropped to 67 cents, and by 2005 to 63 cents. The corresponding ratios for recent immigrant women were 85, 65 and 56 cents, respectively.

Looking at annual employment earnings data from the Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB), two trends have persisted over time for all entry cohorts. First, earnings increase with time in Canada. Second, earnings of economic class immigrants (principal applicants) exceed those of all other immigrant categories – both initially and over time, on average (Figure 8). This group is selected for its labour-market attributes and generally has higher participation rates and attachment to the labour market than others.