Statcan Study: Earnings inequality and earnings instability of immigrants in Canada
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/080409/d080409b.htm

Immigrants move more frequently from one job to another, or have part-time or temporary jobs. As they gain experience in Canada, immigrants are likely to find more stable employment.

The study, "Earnings inequality and earnings instability of immigrants in Canada," published in Statistics Canada's Analytical Studies Research Paper Series, provides further insights into the changing fortunes of immigrants in Canada by focusing on the volatility of their earnings.

Earnings volatility, or earnings instability, refers to year-to-year deviations of individual annual earnings from the average earnings of this individual in a given time period. The study found that instability in earnings for immigrants usually declines substantially after they have spent several years in Canada.

This is consistent with the view that during the first several years in Canada, immigrants move more frequently from one job to another, or have part-time or temporary jobs. As they gain experience in Canada, immigrants are likely to find more stable employment.

The study is also the first to compare the earnings instability of immigrants who arrived in Canada in the 1980s with that of immigrants who arrived in Canada in 1990s. For example, based on the earnings in the four years after landing, the earnings instability of immigrants who came to Canada between 1998 and 2000 was substantially higher than the earnings instability of those who came to Canada between 1980 and 1982.

It was also higher than the earnings instability of those who came to Canada between 1983 and 1985.

Another finding concerns the impact of business cycles on earnings instability for immigrants. While instability generally decreased during the first several years in Canada, it rose rapidly during the recession years in the early 1990s and fell in subsequent years.

Although almost all cohorts in the sample were affected by the recession in the early 1990s, the timing of its impact relative to the entry varied from one cohort to another. This made the comparison of the earnings instability of immigrants who arrived in Canada before and after the recession more difficult.

In the past, immigrants who came to Canada in their 40s had higher earnings instability than young immigrants. However, the earnings instability of young immigrants who came to Canada in the late 1990s was almost as high as the earnings instability of immigrants in their 30s and 40s who came to Canada during the same period.

The study found that earnings inequality rose among recent immigrants over the last two decades, consistent with previous studies that documented the evolution of earnings inequality for all Canadian workers.

Although foreign education, the ability to speak one of the official languages and birthplace accounts for a large part of immigrants' earnings inequality (up to 44% depending on the cohorts considered), much of it remains unexplained by these factors.

The birthplace of immigrants seems to have had a stronger impact on earnings inequality than other factors considered in the study, such as foreign education and ability to speak English or French.

The study "Earnings inequality and earnings instability of immigrants in Canada" is now available as part of the Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series (11F0019MIE2008309, free) from the Analytical Studies module of http://www.statcan.ca/

5 Million Canadians Are Visible Minorities: Statscan
One in five Canadians will be visible minority by 2017
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
The Canadian Press

The number of visible minorities in Canada has surpassed the five million mark for the first time the census history, as a new wave of immigrants from Asia is changing the face of Canada at a staggering rate, Statistics Canada says.

According to new census data released Wednesday, visible minorities now comprise more than 16 per cent of the total population.

Their numbers skyrocketed by 27 per cent between 2001 and 2006, more than five times the previous increase of 5.4 per cent.

The sharp growth in the visible minority population was largely due to the fact that three-quarters of new immigrants to Canada since 2001 were visible minorities, analysts said.

South Asians, those who hail from such countries as India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, now slightly outnumber the Chinese, who were identified as the top visible minority group in 2001, the last time the census was taken.

Nearly 1.3 million people identified themselves as South Asian in the 2006 census — a 38 per cent jump over 2001.

South Asians now account for a quarter of all visible minorities in Canada, or four per cent of the total population. Those with roots in China comprise about another quarter of the country's visible minority population, with some 1.2 million identifying themselves as Chinese.

Blacks, Filipinos, Latin Americans, Arabs, Southeast Asians, West Asians, Koreans and Japanese round out the Top 10 visible minority groups — a list that's relatively unchanged since 2001.

Should current immigration trends continue, Statistics Canada predicts one in five Canadians will belong to a visible minority by 2017, when the country turns 150 years old.

According to the census, 96 per cent of the visible minority population live in a metropolitan area compared with 68 per cent of the total population. For more click here

RBC Says Ontario Economy On The Cusp Of A Recession

TORONTO, April 3 /CNW/ - According to the latest provincial forecast released today by RBC, the heavy drag from Ontario's trade sector will see the province teeter on the brink of recession, delivering sub-1 per cent growth for 2008, followed by a modest improvement of 1.9 per cent for 2009.

"The nationwide hit to Canada's exports will disproportionately affect Ontario because of both its heavy reliance on U.S. demand for its products as well as the unfavourable composition of those exports that are largely focused on automotive and forestry sector goods," said Craig Wright, senior vice-president and chief economist, RBC. "Ontario's exports to the U.S. account for roughly 84 per cent of total exports and about 40 per cent of provincial GDP."

The Ontario government tabled a balanced budget last month but highlighted a number of growing risks to key revenue drivers. Significant year-end expenditures prevented any meaningful and much-needed tax relief. The budget is expected to remain balanced through to 2011 with $3 billion in cumulative reserves to provide a buffer against downside risks to the
province's economic growth.

The province's labour markets are also showing signs of a slowdown andare perhaps not as resilient as previously thought. The public sector has been holding up the labour market, while the private sector continues to cut back with declines in key sectors including forestry, agriculture, manufacturing, finance, insurance and real estate. Some slack emerging in the labour market confirms that the province is gearing down as companies trim their operations.

However, according to the report, any economic slowdown should be short-lived as there are enough positive drivers to help push Ontario's economy through these tough times.

"Real estate markets are healthy, real wages are continuing to rise and a big dose of interest rate stimulus should provide a boost to the economy through 2008," noted Wright.

Is Our Immigration Act in Need of Reform?
Posted on: 31 March 2008 by Sahar Deshmukh
http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm?page_id=3

The Conservative government has recently proposed changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which was introduced by the Liberals in 2002. Considering that Canada currently has a backlog of 900,000 applications waiting to be processed, many would say that the Canadian Immigration Act should be revised. The government wants to speed up the process and get more immigrants into the country faster. The new changes would allow the government to reject a would-be immigrant who has already been approved by the immigration officers. It will allow the government to limit the number of immigration applications Canada accepts. It will also set limits on what type of immigrants can enter Canada each year.

These amendments are a part of the budget implementation bill, making it a confidence matter. If the opposition doesn't want it to pass, then there will soon be a federal election. Olivia Chow, an NDP critic (Trinity-Spadina) has expressed her concerns over the issue. She will introduce a motion to delete the amendment to the Immigration and Refugee Act from the budget implementation bill. She wants to debate the issue of immigration reform separately.

.Liberal critic Maurizio Bevilacqua has also been critical of this motion. "The Conservatives are shutting the door on immigration because they fail to understand its importance to our labour markets and our nation-building. The lack of resources devoted to this issue shows they are not serious about immigration," he said.

During an interview with CTV's 'Question Period', Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley maintained that these amendments are not anti-immigrant. "We're trying to get more people here faster because we need them. We also need families to be reunited. In fact we welcomed last year 430, 000 people, newcomers to Canada," she said.

Questions remain about how the government's proposed revisions will speed up the immigration process. Should there be a public debate about Canada's immigration policy? Will the opposition parties go to the polls over the issue? Do the new provisions give the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration too much power? Does our immigration act need a transformation?

YWCA Toronto Challenges Changes To Immigration And Refugee Protection Act
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2008/02/c9993.html?view=print

TORONTO, April 2 /CNW/ - YWCA Toronto joins with concerned Canadians everywhere to challenge the federal government on its proposed changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

We agree that the backlog needs to be adequately dealt with. As part of the immigrant and refugee serving sector YWCA has advocated for this to happen for years. But a solution to this breakdown in the system should not give the Minister a blank cheque to use unprecedented powers that would create uncertainty and leave Canada's immigration system open to arbitrariness and direct political influence.

Above all, this government's increased emphasis on temporary work visas marks a significant and troubling policy shift. Canada is moving away from its vision of immigrants as integral partners in the building of our country's future. Instead, the over emphasis on temporary workers shows that Canada views foreign born workers as disposable economic units who should not be allowed to participate fully in all aspects of Canadian life. This category of immigration is discriminatory due to the gendered nature of most temporary work. Currently, women brought in as caregivers and domestic workers have the fewest rights of any category of immigrants. YWCA advocates for the fair and equal treatment of all immigrants to Canada.

YWCA Toronto is the city's largest women's organization with over 135 years experience working with all communities in Toronto. Seventy-five percent of our 24,000 program participants are visible minority women and their families, many of whom are immigrants and refugees. For more information.
Please visit www.ywcatoronto.org.

Immigration 'small benefit' to UK
Excerpts from BBC NEWS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7322825.stm

Record levels of immigration have had "little or no impact" on the economic well-being of Britons, an influential House of Lords committee has said.

It says competition from immigrants has had a negative impact on the low paid and training for young UK workers, and has contributed to high house prices. The peers want a limit on immigration levels - a view backed by the Tories.

Minister Liam Byrne says migration has added £6bn to the economy and a points system is preferable to a cap. In their report, The Economic Impact of Immigration, the peers said the government "should have an explicit target range" for immigration and set rules to keep within that limit.

They raised the prospect of cutting the rights of people to follow relatives who have settled in the UK. And they rejected claims by ministers that a high level of immigration was needed to prevent labour shortages as "fundamentally flawed".

The peers also warned that the government's new Australian-style points-based immigration system carried a "clear danger of inconsistencies and overlap".

The Lords Economic Affairs Committee, whose members include two ex-chancellors and other Cabinet members, took eight months to consider government immigration policies.

Inquiry chairman Lord Wakeham said: "Looking to the future, if you have got that increase in numbers and you haven't got any economic benefit from it, you have got to ask yourself, is that a wise thing to do?

Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, head of migration at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said that to say there were no economic benefits was "simplistic and misleading".

"Recent immigration has brought immense benefits to the UK in terms of economic growth, increased competitiveness and the delivery of public services," he said.

UK MIGRATION IN 2006
An estimated 400,000 people left the UK for a year or more - up from 359,000 in 2005 This is the highest figure since the estimates began in 1991 Of those, just over half - 207,000 - were British citizens Some 591,000 people arrived in the UK to live for a year or more. The previous highest was 586,000 in 2004 Net immigration was 191,000, some 53,000 lower than the record estimate of 244,000 in 2004 There were 316,000 more non-British citizens and 126,000 fewer British citizens in the UK

Vatican: World Has Greater Number Of Muslims Than Catholics
4/1/2000 - By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

http://www.catholic.org/printer_friendly.php?id=27384&section=Cathcom
"For the first time in history, we're no longer at the top. The Muslims have surpassed us," Msgr. Formenti

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - A Vatican official said that, for the first time, the world's Muslim population is greater than the number of Catholics.  Msgr. Vittorio Formenti, who heads the Vatican's statistics office, said the shift was the result of larger families among Muslims.

According to statistics at the end of 2006, Muslims now represent 19.2 percent of the world population, while Catholics represent 17.4 percent, he said.  "For the first time in history, we're no longer at the top. The Muslims have surpassed us," Msgr. Formenti said in an interview March 30 with the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.

He noted that if other Christian denominations are taken into consideration, the global Christian population is about 33 percent of the total, still far greater than the Muslim population.  Msgr. Formenti said the Catholic population continues to keep pace with world population growth. However, Muslims' families have more children and are outpacing the average growth rate, he said.

He said statistics on Catholics are tabulated methodically, while statistics on Muslims are estimates transmitted to the United Nations. 

Other sources, including the World Almanac, have reported for several years that the world's Muslim population exceeded that of Catholics.

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