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The Portability of New Immigrants' Human Capital: Language, Education, and Occupational Skills

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  • Casey Warman
  • Arthur Sweetman
  • Gustave Goldmann

Abstract

Given the declining returns to pre-migration labour market experience, human capital portability is explored for new immigrants focusing on pre- and post-immigration occupational matching, and its interactions with education and language. New immigrants who match occupations obtain an earnings premium, but surprisingly, on average, even they obtain no return to their pre-migration labour market experience. Only males with substantial English proficiency who also match occupations receive any return to such experience. Moreover, occupational matching and English skills are also seen to interact with education in an unexpected way. For both sexes, only those with a match and/or strong English proficiency obtain a positive return to their schooling. The commonly observed low rate of return to education for new immigrants appears to be a combination of zero for some and a large return for others. Of the varieties of human capital studied, only English language skills are universally rewarded.

Suggested Citation

  • Casey Warman & Arthur Sweetman & Gustave Goldmann, 2015. "The Portability of New Immigrants' Human Capital: Language, Education, and Occupational Skills," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 41(s1), pages 64-79, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpp:issued:v:41:y:2015:i:s1:p:64-79
    DOI: 10.3138/cpp.2013-055
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Richard E. Mueller & N. T. Khuong Truong, 2022. "Wage and basic skills inequality between immigrants by immigration admission categories and Canadian non-immigrants," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 1833-1884, April.
    2. Kai Ingwersen & Stephan L. Thomsen, 2021. "The immigrant-native wage gap in Germany revisited," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(4), pages 825-854, December.
    3. Agnieszka Kosny & Basak Yanar & Momtaz Begum & Dina Al-khooly & Stephanie Premji & Morgan A. Lay & Peter M. Smith, 2020. "Safe Employment Integration of Recent Immigrants and Refugees," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 807-827, September.
    4. Mariele Macaluso, 2022. "The influence of skill-based policies on the immigrant selection process," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(2), pages 595-621, July.
    5. Fang, Tony & Zhang, Tingting & Hartley, John, 2023. "Examining the Determinants of Managers' Hiring Attitudes Towards Immigrant Workers: Evidence from an Employer Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 16219, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Casey Warman & Christopher Worswick, 2015. "Technological change, occupational tasks and declining immigrant outcomes: Implications for earnings and income inequality in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(2), pages 736-772, May.
    7. Xiaomin Liu & Steven J. Bowe & Allison Milner & Lin Li & Lay San Too & Anthony D. LaMontagne, 2019. "Job Insecurity: A Comparative Analysis between Migrant and Native Workers in Australia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-14, October.
    8. Basak Yanar & Agnieszka Kosny & Peter M. Smith, 2018. "Occupational Health and Safety Vulnerability of Recent Immigrants and Refugees," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-16, September.
    9. Randall Akee & Maggie R. Jones, 2019. "Foreign vs. U.S. Graduate Degrees: The Impact on Earnings Assimilation and Return Migration for the Foreign Born," Working Papers 19-17, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    10. Yigit Aydede & Atul Dar, 2016. "The cost of immigrants’ occupational mismatch and the effectiveness of postarrival policies in Canada," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-23, December.
    11. Susumu Imai & Derek Stacey & Casey Warman, 2019. "From engineer to taxi driver? Language proficiency and the occupational skills of immigrants," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(3), pages 914-953, August.
    12. Anthony Edo & Lionel Ragot & Hillel Rapoport & Sulin Sardoschau & Andreas Steinmayr & Arthur Sweetman, 2020. "An introduction to the economics of immigration in OECD countries," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(4), pages 1365-1403, November.
    13. Umut Riza Ozkan, 2018. "Foreign Qualification Recognition Regimes for Internationally Trained Professionals: the Case of Pharmacists," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 367-389, May.
    14. Richard E. Mueller, 2019. "Public Sector Wages In Alberta: How Do These Compare To Other Provinces And To The Private Sector?," SPP Research Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 12(34), October.
    15. 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.

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