Economic and Social Reports, December 2024

Released: 2024-12-19

There are five new articles available in today's release of Economic and Social Reports.

Rising prices have affected young families' decisions to move

Rising prices have had an impact on the ability of families to move. A new article, "Barriers to moving: Potential implications for the life satisfaction of young families," using data from the Canadian Social Survey, illustrates how higher prices have disproportionately affected the moving decisions of young Canadians, particularly those experiencing financial hardship.

Among Canadians under the age of 35 who indicated that they were not experiencing financial difficulty, about one-quarter reported that they wanted to buy a home or move to a new rental but did not because of rising prices. Among those experiencing financial difficulty, 45% reported that their moving decisions were negatively impacted by rising prices.

Among young renters who indicated that they were experiencing financial difficulty, over one-half (55%) reported that they wanted to buy a home or move to a new rental but did not because of rising prices. In comparison, 37% of young homeowners that were experiencing financial difficulty were deterred by higher prices.

The results suggest that an important factor affecting life satisfaction among younger households may be persistently high housing and rental costs that delay life transitions, including the path to homeownership.

The housing arrangements of international students vary across municipalities

Understanding how international students navigate housing markets across various municipalities can guide planning decisions to better meet their needs. The study "Municipal variations in the housing arrangements of international students," based on the 2021 Census of Population, examines the extent to which international students participated in the rented and owned housing sectors.

Findings reveal that most international students relied on the rental market, with the share ranging from 65% in Brampton to 92% in Montréal among the 15 municipalities with the largest international student populations. These shares were 40 percentage points higher than those of Canadian-born students in most municipalities. International students in rented homes were more likely to live in shared accommodations compared with those in owner-occupied homes. In Toronto, Vancouver, Brampton, Waterloo, Burnaby, and St. John's, over 40% of international students living in owner-occupied homes were subtenants who were likely paying rent but not being counted in the formal rental market. In other large municipalities, this figure ranged from 20% to 40%.

These variations across municipalities suggest that international students adopt different strategies to secure housing depending on the local housing stock. These insights are important for informing targeted housing policies and enhancing student support services.

Immigrants who arrive in Canada at older ages have smaller social networks

Having close friends in the local community is a source of social support that helps immigrants adapt and improves their socioeconomic outcomes. Using data from the 2020 General Social Survey, the study "Immigrants' age at arrival and social networks in Canada" found that immigrants who arrived in Canada during pre-adolescence or older had fewer close friends in their local communities than third generation or more Canadians. Immigrants who arrived as adults also had fewer acquaintances in the local community than third generation or more Canadians. However, immigrants' frequency of and satisfaction with contact with their friends was not different from that of third generation or more Canadians.

Among immigrants who arrived from childhood to middle adulthood, the proportion of interethnic friendships that composed their social networks was consistently higher compared with third generation or more Canadians. Across age-at-arrival groups, about one-third of immigrants reported that at least half of their friends came from a "visibly different" ethnic group. The exception was immigrants who arrived in middle childhood, among whom more than two-fifths (44%) reported this outcome. By comparison, less than one-fifth (17%) of third generation or more Canadians reported that at least half of their friends were from a visibly different ethnic group.

Growth in the number of Indigenous-owned businesses in Canada slows after 2018

In 2021, the number of Indigenous-owned businesses was estimated at 18,605, representing 1.3% of private businesses in Canada. The study "Indigenous-owned businesses in Canada, 2005 to 2021" offers an updated overview of the characteristics of Indigenous-owned businesses in Canada.

The majority of Indigenous-owned businesses were owned by Métis (54.3%), followed by First Nations people (40.4%), while Inuit were owners of 1.8% of Indigenous-owned businesses. The remaining 3.5% were owned by individuals with multiple Indigenous identities or jointly owned by individuals who identify with one of the three Indigenous groups, but where no one group controlled more than 50% of the shares.

While the number of Indigenous-owned businesses increased by 42.7% from 2005 to 2021, their share of the total business landscape decreased by 0.1 percentage points during the same period. In addition, the data indicate that while Indigenous-owned businesses have made important strides, they experienced a decline after 2018 while the number of non-Indigenous owned businesses continued to grow until 2020. These findings highlight a disparity between non-Indigenous and Indigenous-owned businesses that warrants further attention and support for initiatives to Indigenous-owned businesses.

Insights into the child care workforce

The article "Child care centre workers serving children aged 0 to 5 years in Canada, 2021 to 2022" uses an innovative approach to gain insights into the centre-based child care workforce in Canada. For more information on how characteristics such as roles and composition of employees, rates of pay and benefits, employee turnover and vacancies, differed based on centre ownership and organizational structure, see the Daily release "Characteristics of child care centre workers in Canada, 2022."

Products

The December 2024 issue of Economic and Social Reports, Vol. 4, no. 12 (Catalogue number36280001), is now available. This issue contains the articles "Barriers to moving: Potential implications for the life satisfaction of young families," "Immigrants' age at arrival and social networks in Canada," "Municipal variations in the housing arrangements of international students, " "Child care centre workers serving children aged 0 to 5 years in Canada, 2021 to 2022" and "Indigenous-owned businesses in Canada, 2005 to 2021."

Contact information

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