Earnings of Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Paid Workers in Canadian Gateway and Non-gateway Metropolises

Abstract

© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. A growing number of immigrants are living in non-gateway metropolises. In this paper, drawing from the 2006 Canadian census, we explore and compare the earnings of immigrants in Canadian gateway and non-gateway metropolises. We differentiate entrepreneurs and paid workers in the analysis. In addition, we compare white and non-white immigrants in gateway and non-gateway metropolises. We employ an endogenous switching regression model to address the issue of the “selectivity” of immigrants settling in gateway and non-gateway metropolises. Findings show that the earnings of immigrants always are lower in gateway metropolises than in non-gateway metropolises. Separate analyses for entrepreneurs and paid workers show the same pattern. We also find that there is a significant difference in the earnings of white and non-white immigrants in gateway metropolises only, controlling for demographic and socioeconomic background. In addition, recency of arrival and language ability are not related to earnings for those working in non-gateway metropolises. The implications of the findings are discussed.