White Paper

Traditionally, much of the research on immigrant-owned businesses focused on the ethnic economy, that is, the extent to which demand for specialized goods by particular ethnic groups provides opportunities for immigrant entrepreneurs in those communities. This is reflected in immigrant-owned grocery stores, restaurants, and other retail and service firms catering to niche markets. More recently, attention has shifted towards the role of immigrant entrepreneurs in the broader economy, and specifically in high-tech and knowledge-based businesses. Little is known about the nature of immigrant-owned businesses in Canada. Because of data limitations, studies have tended to centre on immigrant self-employment, thereby excluding large segments of immigrant business ownership. To address this gap, this analysis uses 2010 data from Statistics Canada’s Canadian Employer–Employee Dynamics Database to describe immigrant-owned firms, in particular the extent to which they are in knowledge-based industries (KBIs) or in more traditional industries such as retail trade and food services. In addition, differences in industrial distribution by immigrant class (family, refugee, business, and economic classes) are examined. This study builds on an earlier study based on the same data set, which showed that after a period of adjustment and integration, immigrants have a higher rate of business ownership than the Canadian-born (Green et al. 2016). However, immigrant-owned private incorporated companies tend to be smaller than those owned by the Canadian-born, with these firms employing an average of four and seven paid workers respectively. The rate of unincorporated self-employment is also higher among immigrants than the Canadian-born. The analysis focuses on two types of businesses. The first is private incorporated businesses, which are considered to be immigrant-owned if at least one owner is an immigrant. Owners with at least a 10% share of the company are identified. Only private incorporated businesses with employees are included. The second is businesses owned by the unincorporated self-employed. The vast majority of these businesses do not have employees. For about 55% of unincorporated self-employed immigrants, their business is their main economic activity and self-employment is their main source of earnings (Green et al. 2016). They are referred to as primarily self-employed and the businesses they own are included in this study. The remaining 45% are excluded because self-employment is a secondary economic activity as earnings from paid jobs exceed those from self-employment. Businesses owned by immigrants aged 18 to 69 who entered Canada since 1980 are the focus of the analysis. The comparison group consists of businesses owned by the Canadian-born plus immigrants who came to Canada before 1980 (collectively referred to as ‘the Canadian-born,’ as 93% were born in Canada).

With increased pressure on the postsecondary education system to prepare students for a changing workforce, competency-based education (CBE) is emerging as a promising model for preparing graduates to meet employer demands. A new report published by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, Competency-based Education: Driving the Skills-measurement Agenda, explores the development of CBE in North America and examines its promise and potential in Ontario. Competency-based education — a model that focuses on the knowledge and abilities students demonstrate, regardless of the amount of time they spend in a classroom — is gaining attention internationally. Because they hold the potential to graduate students quickly, cost-effectively and with the skills needed to meet employer demands, CBE programs are ideally suited for groups not always well-served by traditional postsecondary education, such as adult learners.

‘Industry 4.0’ is more discourse than reality. Yet, unlike many other prognostications of social change, it quickly set off a broad and vital public debate. Industry 4.0 promises to improve economic growth, competitiveness and innovative capacity, but above and beyond these it also is supposed to bring better working conditions generally, more creativity, higher resource efficiency, greater compatibility between work and private life and working conditions that better adapt themselves to the needs of older workers (Kagermann/Wahlster/ Helbig 2013: 5).

As digital continues to dominate, South Africa’s ability to secure economic access for all its people—giving its workforce the skills to participate in the digital economy and earn—will determine its future trajectory. In this report, Accenture Research identifies: the new skills needed to unlock advantages in the digital economy; and the actions needed by South African leaders across business, government and industry to shape and prepare the workforce to ‘run with the machine’.

This report is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of the following individuals. Paul Taylor, executive vice president, special projects of the Pew Research Center, provided editorial guidance for the entire report and wrote the Overview. Carroll Doherty, director of political research, provided editorial guidance for Chapters 1 and 2. Rich Morin, senior editor, wrote Chapters 1 and 2, with support from the political staff. Kim Parker, director of social trends research, oversaw the development of the survey questionnaire, co-wrote the overview and wrote Chapter 3. Greg Smith from the Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project provided data analysis, editorial guidance and number checking for the section dealing with trends in religious affiliation. Andrew Kohut, founding director of the Pew Research Center; Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project; Alan Cooperman, director of religion research; and Scott Keeter, director of survey research, provided editorial input for their areas of expertise. Several researchers contributed to data analysis, chart production, writing and number-checking.

Many industrial countries are replacing conventional power plants with renewable energy sources. Green energy policies might affect employment in different ways. A policy shift toward a low-carbon green economy may create new and additional “green jobs” in renewable energy sources and energy-efficiency technologies. However, this may potentially come with the crowding out of employment in other sectors. In addition, energy prices may increase owing to feed-in tariffs subsidizing renewables. The resulting burden may in turn stifle labor demand in industrial sectors and reduce the purchasing power of private households.

People1st is responsible for the Hospitality, Leisure, Travel & Tourism sector. This covers almost 2 million people (1,887,800) working across 14 main industries. Many of these industries overlap and certain distinct areas of work fall more broadly within other industries. The events industry, for example, is often found within hotels (such as a wedding planner employed in a hotel) or holiday parks (where evening entertainment is commonly provided). In addition, many of the core occupations in the hospitality, leisure, travel & tourism sector are common to all the main industries. For example, whilst the primary aim of visitor attractions such as Alton Towers is to offer theme park attractions to visitors, they also have places to eat and drink meaning that catering staff are important to this industry.

This report provides information on the material wellbeing of New Zealanders as indicated by their household incomes from all sources over the period 1982 to 2016. It updates the last report published in 2016 which covered 1982 to 2015. It is one of a suite of three reports that provide information on the material wellbeing of New Zealanders. The suite includes: the Household Incomes Report; the companion report that uses non-income measures (NIMs) to measure and track material wellbeing; and an Overview report which provides a 40-page summary and synthesis of the findings in the two longer reports.