Silly Little Country

Maybe not entirely silly

Statistics Canada made a very interesting-looking study available this morning; the bottom line of it can be summarized in a couple of paragraphs:

The earnings of second-generation Canadians is only loosely tied to the socio-economic status of their parents, according to a new study that investigates the link between the socio-economic status of immigrant fathers and their Canadian born sons and daughters.

and

Second-generation children in Canada are more educated and earn more on average than Canadians of a similar age whose parents were both born in Canada, according to the study.

and (ok, three paragraphs, and three is possibly 'a couple'))

The study also found that even though paternal earnings were not strongly associated with the adult earnings of daughters, the fathers [sic] education was an important influence. Fathers from immigrant communities with high levels of education are able to promote the education and labour market success of their daughters.

So far I have read only the summary of the paper - the full report is 44 pages so it may be a while. I do have a personal interest as half a second-generation Canadian (one parent born outside the country). The link above also leads to a free download of the whole paper. Looks as if it is worth a read.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 5:47 PM