When people move, their labour moves, no matter the conditions that inspired — or forced — their migration. Migration economics, a subfield of labour economics, investigates that reality.
“It’s exciting to study how migration and labour markets intersect,” said migration and labour economist Natalia Vigezzi, a PhD candidate with the Department of Economics.
In her job market paper, Local Labor Market Conditions at Arrival and the Economic Integration of Refugees and Their Children, Vigezzi asked and investigated a simple but powerful question: Does the local job market that refugees encounter when they first arrive in Canada affect their long-term success and that of their children? Her research was inspired by her previous work with refugees and, in part, by the public conversation about refugees she encountered after coming to Canada from Italy to study at the University of Toronto.
“Outside of academic circles, people often focus on refugee success stories, which are important and inspiring,” said Vigezzi. “But I wanted to look beyond individual anecdotes and understand broader patterns. What happens to refugee families across different regions and over time? And how do policy and location shape their life trajectories?”
Vigezzi investigated the local economic opportunities that refugees encountered upon arrival, proxied by the unemployment rate in their resettlement area, and how that affected their long-term outcomes. She used administrative data from Statistics Canada, specifically the Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB), which links detailed immigration records with annual tax filings. Her focus was on Government Assisted Refugees (GAR) and their employment and income over time.
“During the period of my study, the location and timing of their arrival were largely outside their control,” Vigezzi explained, “which makes it possible to isolate the impact of local labor market conditions.”
Refugees who enter Canada as GAR are subject to the policy-based Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP). These families are met at their point of entry into Canada and then assigned to specific settlement agencies across the country where they receive the services outlined in the program. These include emergency shelter, help applying for documents, school enrollment and other acclimation requirements. The program’s determination of where refugees live has both an immediate and long-term effects.
“Refugees who arrive in areas with higher unemployment rates tend to earn less and are less likely to be employed, even a decade later,” Vigezzi said. “These effects are not just short-term—they persist well beyond typical economic cycles. From a public finance perspective, this matters. Refugees in high-unemployment areas contribute less in terms of taxes and receive more in transfers. These effects don’t dissipate over time, but they persist even ten years after arrival.”
Vigezzi found there were two actions GAR families took after their initial resettlement to create change in their lives.
“Interestingly, refugee families respond to poor initial conditions by moving to better labor markets and investing more in their education,” she said. “These behaviors seem to help mitigate the transmission of disadvantage to the second generation. When I look at the children of these refugees, I don’t find the same negative outcomes. That was one of the most surprising and hopeful results of the study.”
That hope, combined with Vigezzi’s sensitive treatment of the topic from a policy perspective, will inspire migration researchers and keep them busy for years to come.
“What I’ve really admired in Natalia’s work is how her genuine interest in people, and in how refugee families build new lives in Canada, has become a clear and compelling research question,” said Professor Dwayne Benjamin, Vigezzi’s dissertation supervisor. “She asks how much it matters where refugees first settle, whether that’s in northern Ontario, Nova Scotia, or Manitoba, and what that means for their long-term success. It’s a smart mix of curiosity and rigour, grounded in careful data work and a strong grasp of immigration policy.”
That interest in people, and in the diversity of the migration experience, is not limited to her research. Vigezzi extends everything she has learned to that other cornerstone of academic life, teaching.
“I try to make my teaching active and inclusive,” she said. “U of T has an exceptionally diverse student body, and I’ve learned that teaching isn’t one-size-fits-all. Even small things, like making sure the names in your examples aren’t all from your own background, or that the activities resonate with a 19-year-old international student or an MBA student, can make a big difference.”
Return to the Department of Economics website.
Scroll more news.