Monica Boyd

Family and personal networks in international migration: recent developments and new agendas.

Family, friendship and community networks underlie much of the recent migration to industrial nations. Current interest in these networks accompany the development of a migration system perspective and the growing awareness of the macro and micro determinants of migration. This article presents an overview of research findings on the determinants and consequences of personal networks. In addition, it calls for greater specification of the role of networks in migration research and for the inclusion of women in future research.

Educational Attainments of Immigrant Offspring: Success or Segmented Assimilation?

In this article, I study the educational attainments of the adult offspring of immigrants, analyzing data from the 1996 panel of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID). Fielded annually since 1993 by Statistics Canada, respondents are asked for the first time in 1996 to report the birthplaces of their parents, making it possible to define and study not only the foreign-born population (the first generation), but also the second generation (Canadian born to foreign-born parents) and the third-plus generation (Canadian born to Canadian-born parents). The survey also asked respondents to indicate if they are members of a visible minority group, thus permitting a limited assessment of whether or not color conditions educational achievements of immigrant offspring. I find that “1.5” and second generation adults, age 20–64 have more years of schooling and higher percentages completing high school compared with the third-plus generation. Contrary to the segmented “underclass” assimilation model found in the United States, adult visible minority immigrant offspring in Canada exceed the educational attainments of other not-visible-minority groups. Although the analysis is hampered by small sample numbers, the results point to country differences in historical and contemporary race relations, and call for additional national and cross-national research.

Occupational Status in 2000; Over a Century of Census-Based Measurement

The Nam–Powers–Boyd Occupational Status Scale for the year 2000 is introduced here. It is the sixth in a decennial series of such scales that were initiated at the Census Bureau a half century earlier. The bureaus examination of occupational status actually goes back to the end of the 19th century and its thread continues today. The historical background of the 2000 scale, the methodology for constructing the scores, some comparisons with other occupational scales, the 2000 scores themselves, and applications of the 2000 scores are presented.

At a Disadvantage: The Occupational Attainments of Foreign Born Women in Canada.

Using data on the wage and salary labor force age 25–64 from the 1973 Canadian Mobility Study, this article examines the occupational statuses of Canadian female immigrant employees in relation to the statuses displayed by native born women and by native and foreign born men. Immigrant women are observed to have occupational statuses which are lower on the average than those of other sex and nativity groups and which appear to reflect not only their age, place of residence, social origins and educational attainments, but also their membership in two negative status groups: female and foreign born. However, within the foreign born population, considerable stratification exists by birthplace, and the analysis indicates that the double negative of being female and foreign born is less of a factor for the occupational attainments of women born in the United States and in the United Kingdom, than it is for women born in Europe and elsewhere.

Immigration reconsidered : history, sociology, and politics

This collection of essays offers an interdisciplinary and global perspective on immigration to the United States.

Triumphant transitions : Socioeconomic achievements of the second generation in Canada

Articulated within the last decade, the revisionary perspective on second generation integration argues that the model of equal or above average success of the second generation in North America is historically specific, based on the postwar entry of a white second generation in boom economic times. One implication is that the past patterns of second generation success may not hold now and in the future for immigrant offspring. Using data from the 1994 Canadian General Social Survey for women and men, age 25–64, this article assesses the proposition of triumphant transitions in which the second generation experiences high levels of educational and labor market achievements. Multivariate analyses confirm second generation success with respect to educational levels and occupational status, thus contradicting verdicts of a new chapter to be written for the second generation in Canada. Although limited by the small number of cases in the General Social Survey, exploratory analysis finds variations in educational and occupational attainments exist within second generation groups distinguished by parental region of origin. These findings support the argument that degrees of success are not uniformly assured for all second generation groups.

Skilled immigrant labour: country of origin and the occupational locations of male engineers

Do high skill immigrant workers find employment corresponding to their training? Using unpublished data from the 1996 census, we examine the occupational locations of men age 30-54 who have a university degree with a major in engineering. We focus on three groups: Canadian born, foreign born who immigrated before age 19 and the foreign-born arriving after age 27, arguing that the first two are most likely to be educated in Canada whereas the last group is not. We find birth place differences in the percentages who are working in managerial, engineering, technical and all other occupations, with differences being most pronounced for those immigrating after age 27. Multinomial logit analysis confirms that these differences cannot be attributed to differences in measured human capital stock. Accreditation requirements are one likely explanation, particularly for those who have received training outside Canada.

Match or mismatch? The employment of immigrant engineers in Canada's labor force

Using major field of study and labor force data from the 1996 Canadian census, this paper assesses variations in the correspondence between training in engineering fields and employment patterns. Following a review of the issues associated with under-valuation of credentials, comparisons are made between Canadian born men age 30–54 and permanent residents who immigrated at children and those who immigrated at age 28 or later with respect to labor force participation, employment, and occupational location. Permanent residents who immigrated as adults are assumed to be foreign trained. Compared to the Canadian born and to those immigrating as children, this group is the least likely to be in the labor force or employed. When employed, they are less likely to have either manager, engineering or technical occupations, and most likely to be employed in other occupations. This slippage between training and occupational location is the greatest for those permanent residents with only Bachelors degrees. In part, these aggregate findings reflect recency of arrival of those immigrating as adults. For this group, mis-match is strongest within the first few years of arriving in Canada. Men with engineering training who have been in Canada 15 years or more and/or who have Masters and Ph.D. degrees have employment patterns and occupational profiles that more closely correspond to those of their Canadian-born counterparts or those arriving as children.

Immigration and Living Arrangements: Elderly Women in Canada

The foreign-born elderly in Canada include persons who immigrated as young adults but have now grown old, as well as persons who have immigrated late in life, usually under the auspices of family reunification. Considerable diversity exists among the elderly as a result of these echoes of past and current migration flows. Yet, the implication of such diversity has not been extensively researched. This article examines variation in living with family among the elderly by age-at-immigration groups. Previously married elderly women who arrived as children or as young adults are less likely than other groups, including the native born, to live with family. The percentage living with family instead of living alone or with a nonrelative is highest for women immigrating at age 65 or later. Socioeconomic correlates of these patterns are examined.

Immigrant Language Proficiency, Earnings, and Language Policies

This paper addresses two questions: 1) what are the impacts of language proficiency on the earnings of Canadian adult immigrants; 2) what are the current policy responses. Using a five-level scale of English/French language use, our analysis of Public Use Microdata File for the 2001 census confirms the positive association between proficiency in Canada’s charter language(s) and immigrant earnings. Compared to permanent residents who are highly proficient in English and/or French, those with lower levels of proficiency have lower weekly earnings. Quantile regressions reveal that the relative advantage of English/French language proficiency is higher for those in the top quarter of the earnings distribution; conversely, greater penalties exist for immigrants with low levels of language proficiency at the upper end of the earnings distribution. The likely impacts of federal policies on increasing English/French language proficiency of immigrant workers are discussed, focusing on two federal government initiatives for language training and two recent immigration policy changes.