US, Canada and Australia – Immigrants outperform mainstream populations

Second-generation Chinese and South Asian immigrants in the U.S., Canada, and Australia are more successful than third- and higher-generation whites, a University of Toronto study says.

Sociology professor Jeffrey G. Reitz and PhD candidate Naoko Hawkins and Heather Zhang from McGill University examined survey and census data to compare the achievements of immigrants and their children.

Their conclusion appears in the journal, Social Science Research.

“From a Canadian perspective, the findings are a welcome indication that the children of immigrants are doing well,” Reitz says on the U of T’s site. “However, those who have attributed such success to distinctive Canadian integration policies such as multiculturalism will find their views refuted by the fact that similar success is experienced by the children of similar immigrants in the United States and Australia.”

Data from previous research showed that immigrants in the U.S., Canada, and Australia have varied degrees of success due to each country’s different educational and labour market institutions, Reitz said…

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/world/archives/2012/10/20121013-130327.html