Visible minorities

A study conducted by HRDC and published in 1996 found that the earnings of visible minority men, both immigrants and those born in Canada, are 27% lower than those of non-visible minority men. However, it is reported that the earnings gap is largely a reflection of quality differences in education, language proficiency and experience. Once these factors had been accounted for, an earnings gap between Canadian-born visible minority and non-visible minority men does exist but it is very small—non-visible minorities earn 3.5% more than their visible minority counterparts.

Using 2001 Census data, visible minorities’ average employment income was about 86% of the average income earned by the general population. Visible minority men earned almost 18% less than the male national average while visible minority women made 26% less employment income than the national average for women.