The queer immigrant effect: Labour market integration of LGB immigrants in Canada

Abstract Few have considered whether an immigrant’s sexuality contributes to unique labour market integration and employment outcomes. Using a Canadian immigrant register, consisting of all recently arriving immigrants, and linked income tax records, we break new ground by exploring how biannual arrival cohorts (2000–2010) of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (queer) immigrants fare economically three, five and ten years after arrival. Queer immigrants, who we identify through at least one same-sex tax filing in the first 10 years since arrival, are predominantly arriving from the USA, Europe, and South and Central America as primary economic and family class applicants. They are more highly educated and skilled, less likely to be non-employed, less likely to receive government assistance, and out-earn their heterosexual counterparts over the first 10 years in Canada. Fixed effects modelling reveals a steeper wage growth for queer immigrant men, relative to straight men, between 5 and 10 years since arrival. We also observe the steepest wage growth for straight immigrant women, who enter the labour market with much lower earnings. We posit that queer immigrants leverage social and economic capital from both ethnic and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities, aiding in their socio-economic integration in Canada. Our study also highlights important theoretical and empirical considerations concerning the operationalization of sexuality in administrative tax records.