Explaining Ethnic Enclave, Ethnic Entrepreneurial and Employment Niches

Abstract

Although decades of research have contributed to understanding the operation and implications of minority-concentrated industrial sectors, the reasons for concentration in some sectors but not others remain unclear. To address the question of why some sectors are minority concentrated, this article draws on four sources of literature—human ecology, dual labour market, ethnic enclave and occupational niche—to explore how the factors derived from the literature help to explain the concentration of minority groups in specific industries. The study is based on specially requested tables of the 2001 Canadian census from Statistics Canada. An in-depth comparison is made of the concentration of Chinese in industrial sectors in three major metropolitan areas that have large proportions of Chinese (Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary). Implications of results are discussed.