Quote:
Originally Posted by Docere
Chinese - and I suspect Iranians and maybe Koreans as well - are wealthier than Census income figures suggest. But yes there are lots of working class Chinese in north Scarborough.
Using income as a proxy for class is problematic for immigrants in Toronto (and Vancouver). First generation Chinese immigrants actually have poverty rates similar to Black immigrants but they're pretty much at par with Canadian average in the second generation. In Toronto Black immigrant communities (both Caribbean and East African) are overwhelmingly working class. Poverty rates are the same regardless of generations in Canada.
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Yeah, that's why I used housing crowding instead of income for the map, which is based on whether bedrooms are shared by members of households in ways that exceed Canadian/American norms, like adults over 18 (non-couple) sharing bedrooms or children over 5 sharing bedrooms with opposite gender children, or children sharing bedrooms with parents.
North Scarborough and the adjacent parts of Markham (around Denison St) have a few characteristics that hint at them being disadvantaged though.
1. Low rates of post-secondary education (Age 25-64), even lower than South/Central Scarborough, Malvern and Malton. Only South Oshawa and NW Toronto are comparable. Unlike with South Oshawa and NW Toronto, many of these don't even have high school diplomas.
2. Very low knowledge of official languages, around 30% speak neither English nor French, the worst in the GTA by far.
3. Very high rates of carpooling (highest in the GTA). This could suggest either inability to get a drivers license or to afford a car combined with mediocre transit.
4. Low workforce participation rates (among the lowest in the GTA). Not surprising since lack of language fluency, degrees or diplomas makes you rather unemployable.
5. Low average individual income, partly due to low participation rates but even for those that are employed full-time, they're quite low, comparable to Malton.
Characteristics that make them less disadvantaged
1. Moderate rate of single-parent families. There's more than in upper-middle class areas, but not as many as in South-Central Scarborough, NW Toronto, Brampton or South Oshawa.
2. Low rates of housing in need of repair. Probably in part because the housing is still relatively new, since this is a problem facing many pre-1970 neighbourhoods, including relatively well to do areas.