The Slow Assimilation of British Immigrants in Canada: Evidence From Montreal and Toronto

Using individual-level data from the 1901 census, the authors examine the assimilation of male wage-earning British immigrants in Montreal and Toronto at the turn of the twentieth century. The authors found slow assimilation to the earning levels of native-born English mother-tongue Canadians. While immigrants from the UK were about as likely as the Canadian-born to be in craft jobs, they were much less likely to work in the clerical sector. Within the blue-collar sector, British and Scottish immigrants were at little disadvantage.

Explorations in Economic History

Vol. 38

no. 3

315-338

July 2001

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