Statistics Canada has revealed that those immigrants who gained their permanent residence in Canada during the first year of COVID-19 earned substantially more than previous years.
The boost in earnings enjoyed by these immigrants has a very simple explanation: a great many of those immigrants were already in Canada and had previous work experience in the country.
In its report, The Continued Impacts Of The COVID-19 Pandemic: Variations In The Economic Integration Of New Immigrants, the statistical and demographic services agency explains that the bump up in reported earnings by this 2020 wave of immigrants was due to the difference in the composition of that group of new arrivals.
“The 2020 admission cohort was distinguished by immigrants holding pre-admission experience becoming the majority group for the first time in the country’s history,” notes Statistics Canada.
“Among tax filers in this admission cohort of immigrants, a higher proportion had already lived in Canada (55.5 per cent) than those who did not have pre-admission experience (44.5 per cent).
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“In 2020, 22.5 per cent of immigrant tax filers had both work and study permits, 22.3 per cent had a work permit only, 8.5 per cent had asylum claims and 1.9 per cent had a study permit only.
“Such pre-admission characteristics were closely correlated with the outstanding economic performance of this admission cohort.”
With that work and study experience in Canada, that wave of immigrants was able to command higher wages.
“For immigrants admitted in 2020, the median entry wage, earned one year after admission, was the highest compared with the 10 previous admission years,” notes Statistics Canada.
When that wave of immigrants filed their tax returns the following year, their median entry wage was $37,700, or 21.6 per cent higher than the income of those who arrived in 2019, the last full year before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the border closures.
Those who had arrived in 2019 had a median entry wage of $31,000 when they filed their tax returns in 2020.
Women who became new permanent residents of Canada in 2020 did particularly well in terms of higher incomes reported come tax time.
“In tax year 2021, the median entry wage for women admitted in 2020 increased by 27.1 per cent to $30,500. In comparison, the median entry wage for women admitted in 2019 was $24,000 in tax year 2020,” notes Statistics Canada.
Men who became new permanent residents of Canada in 2020 saw their median entry wage rise by 18.5 per cent, reporting incomes of $44,100 come tax time.
Business Confidence In Canada Is Rising Again, Says Conference Board
With the border closures and public health restrictions of the pandemic now behind it, Canada has rebuilt its economy from the original hit in the first year of COVID-19 and business confidence is riding high.
Last month, the Conference Board of Canada’s Index of Business Confidence rose by 6.2 points to 76.9, marking the end of a historic downturn and signalling the end of a trend that had seen the index fall in nine consecutive quarters.
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“The positive swing was driven by a 9.9 per cent reduction in business executives who believe their financial position will worsen over the next six months, as well as a 9.5 per cent surge in those who believe now is a good time to invest,” reports the Conference Board of Canada.
“A contributing factor to this greater optimism could be firms’ perspectives on prices, with nearly 70 per cent of survey participants expecting Canadian prices to increase at a rate of 3 per cent or less over the next six months, 20 per cent more than our last survey.
“Another contributing factor could stem from firms’ expectations on borrowing costs, with only 13.7 per cent of executives anticipating an increase in borrowing rates in the coming months, down from 28.5 per cent in October.”