Evaluating the performance of different migrant groups in the labor market helps determine how well they have integrated into Canadian society.
A study conducted by Statistics Canada on the refugees who arrived in Canada in 2003 showed the comparison of four different categories of refugees, including how each category managed to get jobs and how many needed social assistance.
Refugees to Canada who enter through the Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program are chosen overseas as:
- Government-assisted refugees
- Privately sponsored refugees
On the other hand, to enter through the In-Canada Asylum Program, the refugees are required to make claims. A refugee claimant can be defined as an individual who has submitted a refugee claim, but or has not been granted legal status by the Canadian government.
Furthermore, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the Canadian immigration department, issues open work permits to refugee claimants, so these individuals can work while the decision is pending on their claim. Also, persons who had arrived from overseas can avail of federally-funded settlement services before and immediately after arrival.
This research study further showed a comparison between refugees who had gained permanent residency in Canada with privately sponsored refugees, government-assisted refugees, and claimants who were not granted permanent resident status. The data to calculate findings was picked from two sources:
- Taxation data
- Landing records
Higher employment rates among privately sponsored refugees and claimants who gained PR
Privately sponsored refugees had higher employment rates compared to government-assisted refugees in the first five years after making a claim or landing. The possible reasons for the highest employment rate were their sponsorship network and their language ability, as they were more likely to speak in English or French upon arrival.
In the next four years, the employment rate of refugee claimants who got PR surged nearly equal to that of privately sponsored refugees. Moreover, by the sixth year, this cohort had the highest employment rate among all the refugee categories.
Furthermore, there was a constant increase in the reported employment income in the first four to five years for government-assisted refugees, settling at 72.4 percent 13 years after landing. On the other hand, refugee claimants without permanent residence reported an employment income rate of nearly 50 percent during this duration.
The highest income rates were reported by privately sponsored refugees
For all the employed refugees, the income steadily increased for every group participating in the study, excluding the refugees who did not receive permanent resident status; however, they also experienced a moderate rise in the income level.
During this 13-year duration, privately sponsored refugees were the highest earners, followed by the category of refugees who gained permanent residency.
Moreover, the government-assisted refugees were the lowest earners in the beginning; however, after four years, they outdid the category of non-permanent residents.
A decline in the rate of social assistance for all groups over the years
After making their initial claim in the first year, around two-thirds of both refugees with permanent residence (66.5%) and refugees without permanent residence (68.1%) collected social assistance. However, these rates were comparatively lower than that of government-assisted refugees; on the other hand, these were higher than the rate for privately sponsored refugees.
Refugee Sponsorship was deemed to be the possible explanation for the low rate of social assistance for the cohort of privately sponsored refugees. Sponsors were required to agree to offer care, settlement assistance, and support for a minimum duration of one year. For this category of refugees, the rate increased to 24.1 percent from 18.4 percent after the initial year. However, by year five, the rate of social assistance for this refugee group declined even below that of the initial year.
For government-assisted refugees, the high rate of social assistance declined drastically after the first year, as in the second year, it dropped to 68.5 percent from 91.6 percent. The introduction of the Refugee Assistance Program might have prompted this decline, as this program provided income support to new refugees to meet their first-year expenses in Canada. Compared to the rest groups of refugees, government-assisted refugees had experienced the highest social assistance rates since the initial year. However, by the 13th year, around 27.2 percent of them collected social assistance.
