The unequal burden of care: How does parental leave affect immigrant care workers in Canada?

Research has documented the consequences that mothers might face in the labour market, including career interruptions, barriers to advancement, and a “motherhood penalty” in terms of wages. Mothers and families might wish to hire support in their households to help with care responsibilities, and Canada has consistently relied in immigrant labour to assist with care shortages. But what happens to immigrant caregivers when they are faced with their own care needs?

Naomi Lightman, associate professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, studied how immigrants care workers fare when having a child interrupts their careers. She found that on average, immigrant women’s income is lower when they encounter a birth-related interruption, as compared to their men counterparts who see an increase in income.

The author used Statistics Canada’s Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) and the General Social Survey (GSS) to find out who is likely to experience a career interruption and how employment income changes before and after this interruption, with specific attention on the effects of gender and immigration pathways. The author looked at individuals who accessed employment insurance (EI) in a given year and had a child younger than one year, and  primarily examined immigrant care workers who entered through Canada’s Live-in Caregiver Program/Caregiver Program (LCP/CP).

Lightman found that not only did a higher proportion of immigrant women experience birth-related career interruption each year than immigrant men, but also that immigrant women experienced lengthier career interruptions than men. This career interruption affected immigrant women’s incomes negatively the year after having a child: they experienced on average lower income than before, while immigrant men’s average income actually increased. This points to a gendered divide when it comes to the effect of birth-related career interruptions on incomes and careers. The lengthier birth-related career interruption for women aligns with existing findings that point to a lack of childcare support or deskilling that occurs from the career interruption as contributing to difficulties in re-entering the labour market.

“This career interruption affected immigrant women’s incomes negatively the year after having a child: they experienced on average lower income than before, while immigrant men’s average income actually increased”

There are also differences based on different immigration categories. The author compared the LCP/CP–a temporary worker program—with immigrants who entered through economic class and family class immigration pathways, ­forms of permanent immigrant categories in Canada. The analyses suggest that immigrant care workers (through the LCP/CP) are more likely to have a birth-related career interruption as compared to those who entered through economic or family class. However, regardless of immigration categories, immigrant women are still more likely to have a lower income after a career interruption compared to immigrant men. The findings suggest that different immigration classes might be tied to access to income after a birth-related career interruption, based on the types of jobs that immigrant women who enter through LCP/CP tend to take part in (i.e., low-wage jobs in care).

Lightman notes that this project stems from her own curiosity and experiences of taking parental leave: “I was having to think about taking parental leave and I started to wonder about how immigrant caregivers were handling and experiencing the effects of taking leave and balancing their work and family obligations.”

This research has implications for policies on the labour market integration of immigrants, which currently create a barrier to upward mobility and higher wages. This barrier is especially relevant for the LCP/CP program, which has targeted a highly feminized workforce that has traditionally been characterized by low-income and citizenship precarity, such as the condition for workers to fulfill live-in requirements before they can apply for permanent residency status.

“…the LCP/CP program…has targeted a highly feminized workforce that has traditionally been characterized by low-income and citizenship precarity”

Lightman stresses the importance of changing policy to support highly skilled and qualified immigrants who are often not able to practice in their field due to lack of credential recognition. One of the biggest barriers to labour market integration for new immigrants is that their credentials from their home countries are not recognized in Canada. This has resulted in skill-job mismatch and underemployment for immigrants. In addition, more financial and governmental support for unpaid caregiving is needed to better support new parents. It is important to have proactive policies to ensure that those who take care of others in Canada can also take care of themselves and their families.

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Research brief prepared by:

Laura Lam