Immigration and Stratification in the Canadian Finance Industry

• In Event: 40860 - Section on Economic Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 9. Wealth and stratification

Abstract

The finance industry is a key site of economic power and wealth generation, but not all workers are equally positioned to take advantage of these opportunities. In this study, we examine the sources of the domestic- / foreign-born earnings gap in the Canadian finance industry. Using nationally representative data and Kitagawa-Oaxaca-Blinder models, we find that occupations play a small role in domestic- / foreign-born earnings disparities. Even though foreign-born workers see weaker returns in several highly lucrative occupations, the occupational distribution of foreign-born workers minimizes exposure to this type of penalty. In contrast, foreign-born workers see earnings penalties throughout the occupational distribution due to their racial / ethnic and linguistic background, each of which is twice as large as the effects of occupation. The results suggest that a great deal of prior research on gender stratification in the finance industry might also apply to immigrants, although the greater concern is discrimination based on race / ethnicity and language background.

Authors

• Jonathan Horowitz, University of Toronto

• Zhen Wang, University of Toronto