Can’t Depend on Love: The Gendered and Classed Effects of Dependency in Canadian Immigration Policy, 1982-2015

• In Event: 3251 - Section on International Migration Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 9. Gender and Migration

Abstract

In this article, we apply a gendered lens to examine whether the different forms of dependency that immigration policies create among private individuals, within family or employment relationships, have an effect on earnings initially and over time. We do so for Canada, where a new dataset links administrative landing files for all immigrants with personal tax records for the period 1982 to 2015. We employ multilevel modeling to estimate growth curve models for 2.5 million individuals, and measure the upward or downward trajectories of immigrants who entered Canada as dependents of spouses/partners (in the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Family Class, Live-In Caregiver Program and Canadian Experience Class) or as dependents of employers (in the Live-In Caregiver Program or the Canadian Experience Class). We find that the dependencies created in immigration policy have negative effects on mean monthly earnings, initially and over time. These effects are intersectional, along gender, class and racial lines. We outline the significance of these findings for immigrant economic integration and how states shape populations more generally and consider policy remedies.

Authors

• Naomi Lightman, University of Calgary

• Jennifer Elrick, McGill University