Introduction and context In the decades since the Second World War, immigration has been a primary engine of economic, social, and cultural change in Canada. In the 1950s and 1960s immigration was primarily from Western European nations. However, changes in federal immigration policies in the years since have resulted in the`internationalization' of immigration to Canada, with the major source countries shifting from Europe to Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. A characteristic of this immigration has been its`urban' character, with most of the recent immigrants to Canada settling in its major cities: Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. As a consequence of these changes, the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) is today home to over 40% of all immigrants to Canada, with the city of Torontoöthe core of the Toronto CMAöbeing a virtual microcosm of the world (Frisken, 2000; Murdie and Teixeira, 2000). Both scholars and policymakers have long recognized the positive impact that immigration makes upon the economic growth and development of North American cities (Hiebert, 2000; Light, 1998; Waldinger et al 1990). Entrepreneurship is an area in which immigrants have played an important role as ever larger numbers of immigrants have entered the self-employed sector of the economy. In this context, the questions of primary interest both to scholars and to policymakers tend to revolve around the varying levels of business involvement and success of different ethnic and immigrant groups: Why do they become entrepreneurs? What factors facilitate this phenomenon?
Using landing records and tax data, this paper examines both the changing composition of the Chinese immigrants in Canada in the past two decades and their levels of economic performance. Our research found that, in addition to a shift in origin, economic immigrants have been on the rise and other classes of immigrants have declined. This has been accompanied by a significant increase in their educational qualifications and proficiency in a Canadian official language. Yet, despite their increased human capital, Chinese immigrants still experience very different economic outcomes in the Canadian labour market compared to members of the general population of Canada. For one thing, they have much lower employment and self‐employment income than the general population. Moreover, these earning differentials hold true for all age groups, both genders, and Chinese immigrants from all origins. While their levels of economic performance increases with length of residency in Canada, this study suggests that it would take more than 20 years for Chinese immigrants to close the earning gaps with the general population. Evidence also suggests that Canadian‐specific educational credentials are indeed worth more than those acquired in the immigrants' country of origin, and are much better remunerated by Canadian employers.
The trip to the supermarket is one of the most basic elements of consumer behavior (Bawa and Gosh, 1999). In geography, the traditional belief according to Christaller's central place theory is that accessibility is the most important explanatory variable in grocery shopping, as consumers tend to visit more-conveniently located stores for loworder goods. Thus, grocery stores generally have a low threshold and small market range, and grocery shopping is often regarded as a local activity. Concerns about the critical role of accessibility arise when we consider the immigrant shopping experience in multicultural cities such as Toronto and Los Angeles, which have experienced dramatic growth in ethnic economies consisting of businesses owned and operated by members of ethnic-minority groups (
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