Using the native born as a benchmark, the authors examine immigrants' reliance on Canada's social safety net. It is found that immigrants have lower participation rates in unemployment insurance and social assistance than natives. It is also found that "assimilation' leads to greater participation in both these programs. There is a correlation of entry participation and vintage which indicates more recent immigrant cohorts have higher recipiency rates than their predecessors, holding years in the country constant. The results for social assistance contrast with US evidence that the raw entry participation rates of many immigrant cohorts exceed the native rates. Analysis of rent subsidies tells a different story, in which immigrants initially have higher rates of participation which fall with assimilation. -from Authors

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Canada recipiency rate welfare payment participation rate unemployment insurance social assistance immigrant population