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Report says immigrants to Nova Scotia doing well economically

HALIFAX – A new report is painting the economic performance of immigrants in Nova Scotia in a positive light.

“We bust a whole bunch of myths,” said Howard Ramos, a professor of political sociology at Dalhousie University, who worked on the report [PDF].

Professors used data stretching back over two decades.

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Recent immigrants in economic streams were found to have higher rates of employment one year after arriving in Nova Scotia versus the national average; 76 and 73 per cent, respectively.

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Immigrants were also found to have about the same earnings as non-immigrants in Nova Scotia but higher than the overall average for immigrants in the country.

“We can extrapolate that refugees will also do well in Nova Scotia and probably will do better than the national average,” Ramos said.

The report, released last Friday, arrives at a time when the province is working to welcome up to 1,500 Syrian refugees.

“Our experience with refugees is that they’re very resilient people. They’ve been through hard times,” said Nabiha Atallah, manager of communications & outreach for Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia.

“It’s important for people across the province to understand that the newcomers are going to contribute to our community.”

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