Immigration and the Canadian Earnings Distribution in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

2016/05/18 by Alan G. Green, David A. Green · 3 citations
Social Sciences · Health Professions · #Migration and Labor Dynamics #Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy #Employment and Welfare Studies

paper · doi:10.1017/s0022050716000541

openalex publication_date 2016/05/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

We use newly available micro-data from the 1911 to 1941 Canadian Censuses to investigate the impact of immigration on the Canadian earnings distribution in the first half of the twentieth century. We show that Canadian inequality rose sharply in the inter-war years, particularly in the 1920s, coinciding with two of the largest immigration decades in Canadian history. We find that immigration was not the main force driving changes in the earnings distribution. This results from a combination of self-selection by immigrants, occupational adjustments after arrival, and general equilibrium adjustments in the economy.

Citations

• Immigrant Inflows, Native Outflows, and the Local Labor Market Impacts of Higher Immigration
• The Labor Demand Curve is Downward Sloping: Reexamining the Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market

Cited by

• Immigrant occupations in 1900s Uruguay: new evidence from birth records
• Immigration in American Economic History
• Immigration to the United States [wikipedia]

Related

• Immigrants’ labour market experiences in early twentieth century Canada
• Changing Income Inequality and Immigration in Canada, 1980-1995
• Measuring socioeconomic status in historical censuses of Canada
• The Substitutability of Foreign-Born Labour in Canadian-Production: Circa 1980
• What Drives Immigrant Inequalities in Career Growth in the Age of Mass Migration?