Abstract
As the most important avenue of spatial population change and redistribution, how migration events are defined alters the empirical measurement and the derived conclusions. Using the foreign-born population as an example and drawing upon recent Canadian census files, this paper explores two related issues. First, the problems and fallacies of attempting to extrapolate temporal trends from period-specific measures are highlighted. Second, measurement issues associated with the length of the migration interval are evaluated by defining return and onward migrations within the foreign-born population based upon one-and five-year migration measures.
Highlights
In recent years, immigration has once again become a prominent national policy issue within Canada's political and academic arenas, as demonstrated by the Metropolis project
As the most important avenue of spatial population change and redistribution, the internal migration of this population assumes a potentially important role as immigrants adjust to their host country, in the period immediately after arrival (Newbold 1999)
This paper has explored the effects of interval length and composition on migration measures
Summary
Immigration has once again become a prominent national policy issue within Canada's political and academic arenas, as demonstrated by the Metropolis project (see, for example, the annotated bibliography by Kobayashi and Peake 1997 and recent work by Beaujot 1998; Bourne 1999; Lo and Wang 1999). As mentioned above, this effect is well known, the recent inclusion of both one- and five-year measures of migration within Statistics Canada census products allows migration to be measured over shorter intervals (one year and four years, rather than five years), along with improved measures of migration events This fixed interval data allows the definition of return and onwards migration, which had previously been based upon province of birth (i.e., Newbold and Liaw 1990, 1994) and not available for the foreign-born population. The magnitude of return and onwards migration within the foreign-born pop"ulation is assessed and compared with that of the native-born population
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