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First and Second Generation Immigrant Educational Attainment and Labor Market Outcomes: A Comparison of the United States and Canada

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Author Info
Abdurrahman Aydemir () (Statistics Canada)
Arthur Sweetman () (Queen's University and IZA Bonn)

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Abstract

The educational and labor market outcomes of the first, first-and-a-half, second and third generations of immigrants to the United States and Canada are compared. These countries’ immigration flows have large differences in source countries, scale and timing, and Canada has a much larger policy emphasis on skilled workers. Following from these, the educational attainment of US immigrants is currently lower than that in Canada and the intergenerational transmission of education is expected to cause the gap to grow. This in turn influences earnings. Controlling only for age, the current US second generation has earnings comparable to those of the third, while earnings are higher for the second generation in Canada. Interestingly, the positive wage gap in favour of first-and-a-half and second generation immigrants in Canada is exceeded by the gap in educational attainment, but a lower immigrant rate of return attenuates education’s impact. Moreover, observable characteristics explain little of the difference in earnings outcomes across generations in the US but their introduction into an earnings equation causes the Canadian second generation premium to switch signs and become negative relative to the third.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 2298.

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Length: 50 pages
Date of creation: Sep 2006
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2298

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Related research
Keywords: immigration; second generation; Canada; United States; education;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
I29 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Other

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Chiswick, Barry R. & DebBurman, Noyna, 2003. "Educational Attainment: Analysis by Immigrant Generation," IZA Discussion Papers 731, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. George J. Borjas, 1991. "Immigration Policy, National Origin, and Immigrant Skills: A Comparison of Canada and the United States," NBER Working Papers 3691, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Chiswick, Barry R, 1978. "The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 897-921, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Chiswick, Barry R & Miller, Paul W, 1985. "Immigrant Generation and Income in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 61(173), pages 540-53, June.
  5. Baker, Michael & Benjamin, Dwayne, 1994. "The Performance of Immigrants in the Canadian Labor Market," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(3), pages 369-405, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Chiswick, Barry R, 1988. "Differences in Education and Earnings across Racial and Ethnic Groups: Tastes, Discrimination, and Investments in Child Quality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 103(3), pages 571-97, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Aydemir, Abdurrahman & Chen, Wen-Hao & Corak, Miles, 2005. "Intergenerational Earnings Mobility Among the Children of Canadian Immigrants," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2005267e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Abdurrahman Aydemir & Mikal Skuterud, 2004. "Explaining the Deteriorating Entry Earnings of Canada’s Immigrant," Labor and Demography 0409006, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  9. Joseph Schaafsma & Arthur Sweetman, 2001. "Immigrant earnings: age at immigration matters," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 34(4), pages 1066-1099, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Peter Kuhn & Arthur Sweetman, 2002. "Aboriginals as unwilling immigrants: Contact, assimilation and labour market outcomes," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 331-355. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2005. "Gender and Assimilation Among Mexican Americans," NBER Working Papers 11512, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Abdurrahman Aydemir & Mikal Skuterud, 2005. "Explaining the deteriorating entry earnings of Canada's immigrant cohorts, 1966 - 2000," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 38(2), pages 641-672, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. Alan G. Green & David A. Green, . "The Economic Goals of Canada's Immigration Policy, Past and Present," Old UBC Departmental Papers 9618, UBC Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Carmen Aina & Giorgia Casalone & Paolo Ghinetti, 2008. "Internal Geographical Mobility And Educational Outcomes. An Analysis For An Italian Province," Working Papers 120, SEMEQ Department - Faculty of Economics - University of Eastern Piedmont. [Downloadable!]
  2. Kucera, Miroslav, 2008. "The Educational Attainment of Second Generation Immigrants in Canada: Analysis based on the General Social Survey," MPRA Paper 14036, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  3. Douglas Almond & Lena Edlund & Kevin Milligan, 2009. "Son Preference and the Persistence of Culture: Evidence from Asian Immigrants to Canada," NBER Working Papers 15391, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Stefanie Schurer, 2008. "Labour Market Outcomes of Second Generation Immigrants: How Heterogeneous Are They Really?," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2008n14, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
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