The Slow Assimilation of British Immigrants in Canada: Evidence from Montreal and Toronto, 1901

Authors: Green A.¹; MacKinnon M.²

Source: Explorations in Economic History, Volume 38, Number 3, July 2001 , pp. 315-338(24)

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Abstract:

Using a new sample of individual-level data compiled from the manuscript returns of the 1901 Census of Canada, this article examines the assimilation of male wage-earning immigrants (mainly from the UK) in Montreal and Toronto. Unlike studies of post-World War II immigrants to Canada, and some recent studies of 19th century immigration to the United States, we find slow assimilation to the earnings levels of native-born English mother-tongue Canadians. While immigrants from the UK were about as likely as the Canadian-born to be in craft jobs, they were much less likely to work in the clerical sector. Within the blue-collar sector, English and Scottish immigrants were at little disadvantage. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.

Keywords: British immigrants; assimilation; census data; occupational choice

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Economics, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada 2: Department of Economics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Publication date: 2001-07-01