Neighbourhood effects and the labour market outcomes of immigrant men in same-sex couples

Sexual minority immigrant men have poor economic wellbeing compared to heterosexuals and the native-born. This may be because they are marginalised as both sexual minorities and immigrants, which can isolate them from the networks, resources, and support offered by neighbourhood ties. Using data from the 2016 Canadian census, I investigate whether neighbourhood composition mediates the disparities in employment status and wages between immigrant men in same-sex couples and those who are Canadian-born and/or different-sex-coupled. Immigrant men in same-sex couples on average live in neighbourhoods that are more economically disadvantaged than Canadian-borns, less populated with coethnics than immigrants in different-sex couples, and more populated with other same-sex couples in general. Neighbourhoods provide a positive mediating effect (i.e. a 'protective' effect) for immigrants in same-sex couples compared to immigrants in different-sex couples, but largely do not affect the economic gaps between them and Canadian-borns.