"Canada ranked #1 country in the world for Quality of Life"

[haudace]

I don't even know what "DACA" is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_Action_for_Childhood_Arrivals

They are employed to about the same extent as people born in the country, and some groups even have higher average earnings. How is that not successful?

The devil is in the details.

Getting a job is good. But what kind of job is it? Minimum wage? Menial labor? Is there job security? Does the job make the cost of living tenable?

Without obtaining the proper context and stats, we can't really say for sure the US has been a successful story in terms of immigrant employment.

[DanDanDan]

If I were to retire now, and if I didn't have friends and family tying me to the DC area, I would absolutely move to Canada. Not just because of the quality of life, but because I effing hate summers in this swamp town, and it only seems to be getting worse. I'm like a human heat pump, so I love the winter, and I especially love snow. In 25 years or so, DC might not be getting any snow at all.

*tear falls*

[brilligtove]

If I were to retire now, and if I didn't have friends and family tying me to the DC area, I would absolutely move to Canada. Not just because of the quality of life, but because I effing hate summers in this swamp town, and it only seems to be getting worse. I'm like a human heat pump, so I love the winter, and I especially love snow. In 25 years or so, DC might not be getting any snow at all.

*tear falls*

The weather in the GTA is getting more extreme. This winter was pretty brutal. If you want consistent snow for at least a few years you'll want to go further up the St Lawrence - at least as far as Montreal, I'd say.

[Quetzalcoatl]

I don't even know what "DACA" is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_Action_for_Childhood_Arrivals

They are employed to about the same extent as people born in the country, and some groups even have higher average earnings. How is that not successful?

The devil is in the details.

Getting a job is good. But what kind of job is it? Minimum wage? Menial labor? Is there job security? Does the job make the cost of living tenable?

Without obtaining the proper context and stats, we can't really say for sure the US has been a successful story in terms of immigrant employment.

A bad job is better than no job at all.

[brilligtove]

Depends on where you live. In places with robust social safety nets and health care you have options you don't have in the US.

[Morvis13]

Depends on where you live. In places with robust social safety nets and health care you have options you don't have in the US.

As long as you are willing to wait for your health care.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Depends on where you live. In places with robust social safety nets and health care you have options you don't have in the US.

I'd say even a bad job is better than living of welfare indefinitely. Living of welfare for decades while you could work is destructive. Having a job also aids integration into society.

Further, the job might be "bad" from your point of view, but what about the person in question? A poor person coming from El Salvador working at Walmart in Arizona might be much better off than whatever El Salvador has to offer him. And starting at Walmart doesn't mean that he will work for Walmart for the rest of his life. The data I could find suggests that Walmart has a pretty high staff turnover.

[daniel1948]

The data I could find suggests that Walmart has a pretty high staff turnover.

That's because they treat their employees like shit, and don't pay them enough to live.

[moj]

If I were to retire now, and if I didn't have friends and family tying me to the DC area, I would absolutely move to Canada. Not just because of the quality of life, but because I effing hate summers in this swamp town, and it only seems to be getting worse. I'm like a human heat pump, so I love the winter, and I especially love snow. In 25 years or so, DC might not be getting any snow at all.

*tear falls*

Howdy neighbor, I also live in the swamp town and a big fan of Canada but not a fan of the snow. Dream life would be to summer in Montreal and winter in a variety of tropical places.

[amysrevenge]

Hard winter is actually pretty easy to become accustomed to.  Life kind of slows down.  Takes you longer to leave the house, takes you longer to get out of your driveway, takes you longer to drive or walk anywhere, etc.  Everyone instinctively knows that you can't get around as fast, so fewer people are in a hurry.  You have appropriate clothing so that over the course of routine in-and-out daily activity you might get a few blasts of cold air in your lungs, but you don't spend an appreciable amount of time being actually cold.

(Unexpected cold is an entirely different beast - a single day of 10F surrounded by days of 40F+ on either side provides a colder experience, in a "how does this affect how your body feels" sense,  than an extended period of -20F.)

[brilligtove]

Depends on where you live. In places with robust social safety nets and health care you have options you don't have in the US.

I'd say even a bad job is better than living of welfare indefinitely. Living of welfare for decades while you could work is destructive. Having a job also aids integration into society.

Further, the job might be "bad" from your point of view, but what about the person in question? A poor person coming from El Salvador working at Walmart in Arizona might be much better off than whatever El Salvador has to offer him. And starting at Walmart doesn't mean that he will work for Walmart for the rest of his life. The data I could find suggests that Walmart has a pretty high staff turnover.

I don't think that's what we're talking about when we talk about 'bad' jobs. Driving a cab is not a bad job. Forcing world-class surgeons to drive cabs because we make it almost impossible for them to recertify/qualify to work here is a bad job. Especially after we seek them out and woo them to come here to be doctors.

[Tassie Dave]

Depends on where you live. In places with robust social safety nets and health care you have options you don't have in the US.

As long as you are willing to wait for your health care.

You only wait for elective surgery and non-life threatening (There is no wait if you have health insurance)

For any other procedure, essential surgery, rehabilitation, hospital tests (XRays, MRIs etc), pathology (blood tests etc), GP visits etc there is no wait (and no cost, other than the 2% I pay with my taxes.)

[daniel1948]

Hard winter is actually pretty easy to become accustomed to.  Life kind of slows down.  Takes you longer to leave the house, takes you longer to get out of your driveway, takes you longer to drive or walk anywhere, etc.  Everyone instinctively knows that you can't get around as fast, so fewer people are in a hurry.  You have appropriate clothing so that over the course of routine in-and-out daily activity you might get a few blasts of cold air in your lungs, but you don't spend an appreciable amount of time being actually cold.

(Unexpected cold is an entirely different beast - a single day of 10F surrounded by days of 40F+ on either side provides a colder experience, in a "how does this affect how your body feels" sense,  than an extended period of -20F.)

I never got used to the cold in North Dakota. I stayed there for 30 years because N.D. had other advantages I wanted. I loved it there, but I did not love the cold. I had all the cold-weather clothing but I endured the cold, never became accustomed to it. Eventually, when I could take it no longer, I left. I definitely like it here better.

[brilligtove]

Depends on where you live. In places with robust social safety nets and health care you have options you don't have in the US.

As long as you are willing to wait for your health care.

You only wait for elective surgery and non-life threatening (There is no wait if you have health insurance)

For any other procedure, essential surgery, rehabilitation, hospital tests (XRays, MRIs etc), pathology (blood tests etc), GP visits etc there is no wait (and no cost, other than the 2% I pay with my taxes.)

OHIP (the Ontario Health Insurance Plan) has a real problem with wait times for procedures that are not life-threatening, but which fuck up your life. Kidney stones that cause debilitating pain might take years to deal with. A friend has a 6 month wait for surgery to correct a pelvic wall hernia that closes off her ureter - because the catheter/stent means she won't die, even if she can no longer work, has shitty quality of life, and is at higher risk of a bunch of complications.

Yeah, so not perfect by any means.

[DanDanDan]

Hard winter is actually pretty easy to become accustomed to.  Life kind of slows down.  Takes you longer to leave the house, takes you longer to get out of your driveway, takes you longer to drive or walk anywhere, etc.  Everyone instinctively knows that you can't get around as fast, so fewer people are in a hurry.  You have appropriate clothing so that over the course of routine in-and-out daily activity you might get a few blasts of cold air in your lungs, but you don't spend an appreciable amount of time being actually cold.

(Unexpected cold is an entirely different beast - a single day of 10F surrounded by days of 40F+ on either side provides a colder experience, in a "how does this affect how your body feels" sense,  than an extended period of -20F.)

Sounds like my kind of living.