June 2, 2008
Written by C.N.
Socioeconomic Attainment Among Asian Canadians
The explicit focus of this site and blog has been and continues to be on Asian Americans. Nonetheless, we should not ignore our counterparts up north — Asian Canadians, who share many things in common with us but who also have their own distinct histories and characteristics.
With that in mind, the Victoria Times Colonist newspaper has an article that compares the educational attainment patterns of various Asian Canadian immigrant groups versus that of White Canadians:
[Data from the 2006 census show that] the group with the highest proportion of university-educated people [between 35-44] were Korean Canadians, where 74.7 per cent of respondents in the age group analyzed had a university degree.
Filipino and Chinese Canadians were in second and third place with about 58.6 and 58.4 per cent of their community holding university degrees.
Arab Canadians weren’t far behind with university graduates making up 51.6 per cent of the population. The study found 48.5 per cent of Japanese Canadians had graduated university followed by 47.8 per cent of West Asians and 47.4 per cent of South Asians.
The levels of university education were significantly lower for Latin Americans, 33 per cent of whom had a degree, and for the black community, where 30.1 per cent had completed university.
However, the groups that were the least likely to have a university degree were white Canadians, only 25.9 per cent of whom had graduated university, and those from Southeast Asia where only 22 per cent had a degree. . . .
But while Canadians from visible minorities have higher levels of education on average than those who aren’t from a visible minority, several of Jedwab’s previous studies have shown that their higher education levels don’t always translate into better employment or better income levels.
In many cases, Canadians from visible minorities with university degrees earn a fraction of what their white counterparts earn and have lower employment levels.
In this case, the socioeconomic attainment patterns of Asian Canadians are quite similar to that of Asian Americans — many (though not all) Asian ethnic groups have higher college degree attainment rates than the White population, but that does not automatically translate into comparable income and occupational attainment levels.
In other words, just like Asian Americans, Asian Canadians still experience some degree of inequality — perhaps we can even say discrimination — when it comes to applying their high educational credentials to the actual income that they receive.
Author Citation
Copyright © 2001- by C.N. Le. Some rights reserved. 
Suggested reference: Le, C.N. . "Socioeconomic Attainment Among Asian Canadians" Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. <https://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/2008/06/socioeconomic-attainment-among-asian-canadians/> ().
Short URL: https://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/?p=609
Translate Into Another Language