Second-generation education and earnings across birth cohorts: ethno-racial variations in Canada

We assess the educational and earnings outcomes of second-generation racial minorities in Canada across successive birth-cohorts from the 1960s to the 1990s, using data from Canadian Censuses and the National Household Survey for 1981, 1991, 2001, 2011, and 2021. We compare South Asian, Chinese, and Black second-generation individuals to third-or-higher generation White Canadians (the mainstream), focusing on persons aged 26–35 to capture early-career trajectories. Findings show that educational attainment improves across cohorts, particularly for women. Nevertheless, significant divergences emerge among racial-minority groups, with Chinese and South Asians maintaining high educational levels, and the Black group showing relative declines across cohorts. Earnings decline for most second-generation groups compared to the mainstream, despite a higher proportion holding university degrees, with declines especially pronounced among Black men and women. We discuss implications for longer-term processes of assimilation and segmentation among ethno-racial minorities in Canada.