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Is the lower return to immigrants’ foreign schooling a postarrival problem in Canada?

Author

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  • Yigit Aydede

    (Saint Mary’s University)

  • Atul Dar

    (Saint Mary’s University)

Abstract

Using the 2006 Canadian Census, this paper investigates the lower return to immigrants’ foreign education credentials after adjusting for their occupational matching in hosting labor markets. We develop two continuous indices that quantify the matching quality of the native-born in both horizontal (fields of study) and vertical (educational degrees) dimensions. This allows us to separate the effects of immigrants’ occupational attainment and their foreign schooling quality on wage earnings by measuring immigrants’ occupational match relative to that of native-born. Our findings indicate that the lack of portability in immigrants’ foreign credentials may not be addressed effectively by postarrival policies as the results show that a significant and persistent poor matching quality for internationally educated immigrants cannot substantiate the lower return to their foreign education credentials. JEL Classification: J6, J15, J61

Suggested Citation

  • Yigit Aydede & Atul Dar, 2017. "Is the lower return to immigrants’ foreign schooling a postarrival problem in Canada?," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-25, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:izamig:v:6:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1186_s40176-016-0076-9
    DOI: 10.1186/s40176-016-0076-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Samuel Vézina & Alain Bélanger, 2020. "Literacy Skills as an Explanation for Labor Market Imbalances by Occupational Type in Canada: Microsimulation Projections for 2014–2024," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(6), pages 1019-1049, December.
    2. Waad Ali & Boadi Agyekum & Noura Al Nasiri & Ammar Abulibdeh & Shekhar Chauhan, 2023. "Effects of Spatial Characteristics on Non-Standard Employment for Canada’s Immigrant Population," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Aydede, Yigit & Dar, Atul A., 2022. "Native-born-immigrant wage gap revisited: The role of market imperfections in Canada," CLEF Working Paper Series 50, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Return to education; Occupational mismatch; Immigration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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