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A Comparative Analysis of the Labor Market Performance of University-Educated Immigrants in Australia, Canada, and the United States: Does Policy Matter?

In: Small Differences II: Public Policies in Canada and the United States

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  • Andrew Clarke
  • Ana Ferrer
  • Mikal Skuterud

Abstract

We examine data from Australia, Canada, and the U.S. to inform the potential for immigrant screening policies to influence the labour market performance of skilled immigrants. Our estimates point to improvements in employment rates and weekly earnings of male university-educated immigrants in all three countries concomitant with skilled immigration policy reforms. Nonetheless, the gains are modest in comparison to a substantial and persistent performance advantage of U.S. skilled immigrants. Given that there is increasingly little to distinguish the skilled immigration policies of these countries, we interpret the U.S. advantage as primarily reflecting the relative positive selectivity of U.S. immigrants.
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Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Clarke & Ana Ferrer & Mikal Skuterud, 2016. "A Comparative Analysis of the Labor Market Performance of University-Educated Immigrants in Australia, Canada, and the United States: Does Policy Matter?," NBER Chapters, in: Small Differences II: Public Policies in Canada and the United States, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:13977
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    9. Heather Antecol & Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Stephen J. Trejo, 2003. "Immigration Policy and the Skills of Immigrants to Australia, Canada, and the United States," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(1).
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    17. Andrew Clarke & Mikal Skuterud, 2013. "Why do immigrant workers in Australia perform better than those in Canada? Is it the immigrants or their labour markets?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(4), pages 1431-1462, November.
    18. Green, David A. & Worswick, Christopher, 2012. "Immigrant earnings profiles in the presence of human capital investment: Measuring cohort and macro effects," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 241-259.
    19. Card, David & Freeman, Richard B. (ed.), 1993. "Small Differences That Matter," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226092836, Febrero.
    20. Abdurrahman Aydemir, 2003. "Effects of Business Cycles on Labour Market Assimilation of Immigrants," Labor and Demography 0309010, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Gregory, Bob, 2014. "The Two-Step Australian Immigration Policy and its Impact on Immigrant Employment Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 8061, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    22. George J. Borjas, 1993. "Immigration Policy, National Origin, and Immigrant Skills: A Comparison of Canada and the United States," NBER Chapters, in: Small Differences That Matter: Labor Markets and Income Maintenance in Canada and the United States, pages 21-44, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Abdurrahman Aydemir, 2003. "Effects of Business Cycles on Labour Market Assimilation of Immigrants," Labor and Demography 0309009, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    24. Andrew Clarke & Mikal Skuterud, 2016. "A comparative analysis of immigrant skills and their utilization in Australia, Canada, and the USA," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(3), pages 849-882, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Dostie, Benoit & Li, Jiang & Card, David & Parent, Daniel, 2023. "Employer policies and the immigrant–native earnings gap," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 233(2), pages 544-567.
    2. Garnett Picot & Feng Hou, 2019. "Why do STEM immigrants do better in one country than another?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 459-459, April.
    3. 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.
    4. Arnaud Chevalier, 2022. "How to attract international students?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-36, May.
    5. Bolortuya Enkhtaivan & Jorge Brusa & Zagdbazar Davaadorj, 2020. "A Gap in Brain Gain for Emerging Countries: Evidence of International Immigration on Non-Resident Patents," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-23, December.
    6. Alícia Adserà & Ana M. Ferrer & Virginia Hernanz, 2023. "Differences in Skill Requirements Between Jobs Held by Immigrant and Native Women Across Five European Destinations," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(3), pages 1-29, June.
    7. Cahit Guven & Lan Anh Tong & Mutlu Yuksel, 2020. "Australia's Immigration Selection System and Labour Market Outcomes in a Family Context: Evidence from Administrative Data," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 96(S1), pages 50-77, June.
    8. Tommaso Frattini, 2017. "Integration of immigrants in host countries - what we know and what works," Development Working Papers 427, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    9. Parisa Ghasemi & Paulino Teixeira & Carlos Carreira, 2024. "Immigrants and the Portuguese labor market: Threat or Advantage?," CeBER Working Papers 2024-02, Centre for Business and Economics Research (CeBER), University of Coimbra.
    10. Doyle, Matthew & Skuterud, Mikal & Worswick, Christopher, 2023. "The economics of Canadian immigration levels," CLEF Working Paper Series 58, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    11. 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.
    12. Gielen, Anne C. & Webbink, Dinand, 2023. "Unexpected Colonial Returns: Self-Selection and Economic Integration of Migrants over Multiple Generations," IZA Discussion Papers 16065, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies

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