Ongoing Projects
SME Hiring Practices and Experiences with Immigrants and other Equity-Deserving Groups (Funded by Future Skills Centre and ACOA)
This research project aims to fill the gap in understanding employer attitudes toward hiring immigrants and international students, particularly focusing on SMEs in Canada. Building upon our 2019 survey of Atlantic Canada employers, this study will expand to include a national perspective. It will explore employers’ attitudes, concerns, and experiences in hiring immigrants, aiming to uncover the benefits, challenges, and barriers to employing newcomers. The research will identify solutions to improve understanding and reduce information asymmetry, helping SMEs leverage the human capital of immigrants to address labor and skills shortages. By developing tools, training, policies, and programs, the study will support SMEs in hiring newcomers and contribute to Canada's long-term productivity and economic growth.
Additionally, the research will include a longitudinal analysis to assess if SME attitudes in Atlantic Canada have shifted from 2019 to 2024, especially given recent media reports linking increased immigration to housing demand and affordability. Understanding these shifts is crucial for addressing any negative attitudes toward hiring immigrants and international students. The gap this research addresses lies in understanding employer perceptions of immigrants and equity-deserving groups versus other Canadians.
A Comprehensive Approach to Newcomer Integration: Information Sharing, Partner Collaboration, and Community Engagement (Funded by Newcomer Settlement and Integration Grants, Office of Immigration and Multiculturalism, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador)
This project aims to address the integration challenges immigrants face in Newfoundland and Labrador by creating a comprehensive, digitally-driven framework. It seeks to enhance the social, economic, and cultural integration of newcomers through innovative information-sharing platforms and community partnerships with employers, settlement agencies, policymakers, and immigrants. The initiative will align with the Newfoundland and Labrador Settlement and Integration Program (NLSIP) to improve settlement services and promote the benefits of immigration. The proposed platform will serve as a one-stop hub for employers, agencies, educators, researchers, policymakers, and newcomers, ensuring effective connections and the sharing of employment opportunities, policies, and success stories. Previous research shows that newcomers struggle with a lack of timely information, Canadian work experience, and social networks. This project will help build essential connections between immigrants, their communities, employers, resettlement agencies, and mentors through ambassadors, experience builders, employer connectors, and knowledge brokers, promoting integration and retention in NL.
Evaluating Economic Contributioins of Immigrants to Atlantic Canada (Funded by SSHRC and ACOA)
This project makes use of both a quantitative model and qualitative methods to evaluate the impacts of large-scale immigration on the Atlantic Canadian economy. As a quantitative method, the FOCUS macro-econometric model of the Canadian economy - developed and maintained at the University of Toronto - will be used to examine the economic and demographic impacts of immigration.
We have conducted a series of simulations in order to model the effects of immigration on a variety of economic and demographic indicators, including economic growth, per capita income, labour productivity, earnings, unemployment, inflation and interest rates. We will also collaborate with our community partner, the Association for New Canadians (ANC) to implement various qualitative methods, such as public opinion surveys, public consultations, focus group discussions and interviews with major stakeholders including employers, policy makers, and newcomers to develop a better understanding of the economic contribution of immigrants to Atlantic Canada at the meso- and micro-levels. This will also help us understand various channels and mechanisms through which immigrants can make contributions to the Atlantic economy, such as stimulating consumption and investment, filling labour and skill shortages, creating jobs through entrepreneurship and innovation, and contributing to government revenues through various forms of taxation.
Migrant Integration in the Mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides (Funded by Canada First Research Excellence Fund, CFREF)
The research program will be supported for seven years by a $98.6-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) and is dedicated to building a new understanding of the challenges and opportunities that migrant integration poses for Canada (and all countries) locally and across borders.
The program’s unique interdisciplinary research design will drive leadership in the areas of citizenship and civic participation, the future of work, healthcare, and the responsible and ethical use of advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, which is changing the way we work, live and interact. This intersectional approach will further the modernization of global immigration policies and contribute to building communities and urban centres that are equitable, resilient and inclusive to migrants.
As an independent researcher, Dr. Fang will contribute to the research on the impacts of AI and other automation technologies on business and immigrant
workers in the post-COVID era.
https://www.torontomu.ca/bridging-divides/
Productivity, Firms and Incomes (Funded by SSHRC)
Jointly with Professor Mike Veall at McMaster, Dr. Fang has received an SSHRC partnership grant in the amount of $2.5 million for their project "Productivity, Firms and Income". The emphasis of Dr. Fang's sub-project is on the attraction and retention of highly skilled immigrants and international students, which is influenced by governance and public policy at federal, provincial, and municipal levels and will contribute to our understanding of community, regional and enterprise development. Such research will help Newfoundland and Labrador to meet looming demographic challenges, and alleviate labour and skill shortages, and in turn, enhance workplace productivity and organization. This would be a key driver for the long-term economic growth and social development in the province. The inflow of skilled immigrants and international students will also enrich the already vibrant and unique traditions in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Immigrant Retention in Atlantic Canada: Who Stays, Who Leaves, and Who Returns? (Funded by SSHRC Explore Grant)
Using the Longitudinal Immigration Database merged with taxfiler data, the proposed study will examine the link between the characteristics of newcomers and their decision to either stay in Atlantic Canada or move to another province. Put simply, the study will assess what personal and job characteristics make newcomers more likely to stay in the region, versus those which make them more likely to leave. An additional element which will be studied, if there is adequate data, is the extent to which newcomers who landed in Atlantic Canada may return after moving to another province. Such a scenario may be thought of as “long-run retention”, and it is hypothesized that this likely occurs when a newcomer desires to live in Atlantic Canada, but must move for a time to find employment commensurate with their educational attainment and labour market experience.