Class reported annual incomes above the averages seen in Figure 2. Those who landed as Retired
immigrants, on average, had annual incomes comparable to Skilled Principal Applicants. Other
Family immigrants had incomes comparable to those of and Other Economic immigrants.
Parents and Grandparents had the lowest income of all immigrant categories, with one minor
exception. The exception being that short-term and immediate elders who landed as Refugees
reported lower incomes than Parents and Grandparents until the 10-year mark. At that point the
incomes of both groups increased sharply and stabilized at roughly the same level. Long-term
elders who landed as Refugees had incomes similar to those of Skilled Spouses and Dependents
and Other Economic immigrants.
The relatively low incomes reported by Parents and Grandparents and Refugees served to
depress the overall averages and masked the higher incomes reported by other immigrant
categories. The sharp rise in income reported by short-term and immediate elders at the 10- to
11-year mark also appeared to be driven by the income experiences of Parents and Grandparents
and Refugees. This is not surprising given that these two categories combined to account for 68
and 80 percent of the short-term and immediate elderly populations, respectively. A more
detailed investigation of the specific income types available to elderly immigrants may help shed
light on the trends in annual income observed here.