The labour market activity of immigrant and non-immigrant married couples is compared using data from the 1981 and 1991 Canadian Censuses. New evidence is provided on the performance of immigrant men and women in terms of three components of annual earnings: hourly wage rates, hours worked per week, and weeks worked per year. Evidence of intra-family trade-offs of investments in the immigrant husband's career at the expense of investments in the wife's career are not found overall. However, the wife's labour market performance is found to play a major role in the earnings creation of immigrant families. The findings support a family orientation to both the evaluation and the implementation of immigration policies.

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Canada labour participation labour market household income gender disparity immigrant people