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Age at Immigration and the Education Outcomes of Children

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  • Corak, Miles

    (CUNY Graduate Center)

Abstract

The successful acquisition of a language is often characterized in terms of critical periods. If this is the case it is likely that children who migrate face different challenges in attaining high school credentials depending upon their age at immigration. This paper examines the education outcomes of a cohort of immigrants who arrived in Canada as children. The 2006 Census is used and it is found that there is in fact a distinct change in the chances that children will hold a high-school diploma according to the age at which they arrived in the country. The chances of being a high-school dropout do not vary according to age at arrival up to about the age of nine, with children arriving after that age facing a distinct and growing increase in the chances that they will not graduate from high school. The findings suggest that public policy addressing the long run success of immigrant children needs to be mindful of the variation in risks and opportunities by age, and the role of both early childhood investment and the structure of the education system faced by young adolescents in determining them.

Suggested Citation

  • Corak, Miles, 2011. "Age at Immigration and the Education Outcomes of Children," IZA Discussion Papers 6072, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6072
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Abdurrahman Aydemir & Wen-Hao Chen & Miles Corak, 2013. "Intergenerational Education Mobility among the Children of Canadian Immigrants," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 39(s1), pages 107-122, May.
    2. Gonzalez, Arturo, 2003. "The education and wages of immigrant children: the impact of age at arrival," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 203-212, April.
    3. 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.
    4. Abdurrahman Aydemir & Wen-Hao Chen & Miles Corak, 2009. "Intergenerational Earnings Mobility among the Children of Canadian Immigrants," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(2), pages 377-397, May.
    5. Ana Ferrer & W. Craig Riddell, 2008. "Education, credentials, and immigrant earnings," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 186-216, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Deborah Cobb-Clark & Mathias Sinning & Steven Stillman, 2011. "Migrant Youths' Educational Achievement: The Role of Institutions," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 1120, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    2. Asako Ohinata & Jan C. van Ours, 2012. "Young immigrant children and their educational attainment," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2012027, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    3. Becker, Sascha O. & Ferrara, Andreas, 2019. "Consequences of forced migration: A survey of recent findings," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1-16.
    4. Yu Aoki & Lualhati Santiago, 2015. "Fertility, Health and Education of UK Immigrants: The Role of English Language Skills," CINCH Working Paper Series 1510, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Competent in Competition and Health, revised Aug 2015.
    5. A. Di Liberto, 2013. "Length of stay in the host country and educational achievement of immigrant students: the Italian case," Working Paper CRENoS 201316, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    6. Albornoz, Facundo & Cabrales, Antonio & Calvo, Paula & Hauk, Esther, 2018. "Immigrant children’s school performance and immigration costs: Evidence from Spain," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 27-30.
    7. Mohsen Javdani & Andrew McGee, 2018. "Labor market mobility and the early-career outcomes of immigrant men," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-28, December.
    8. Wifo, 2017. "WIFO-Monatsberichte, Heft 7/2017," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 90(7), July.
    9. Atif Kukaswadia & Ian Janssen & William Pickett & Jasmine Bajwa & Katholiki Georgiades & Richard N Lalonde & Elizabeth C Quon & Saba Safdar & Ian Pike, 2016. "Development and Validation of the Bicultural Youth Acculturation Questionnaire," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(8), pages 1-16, August.
    10. Marina Gindelsky, 2019. "Testing the acculturation of the 1.5 generation in the United States: Is there a “critical” age of migration?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 31-65, March.
    11. Peter Huber & Marian Fink & Thomas Horvath, 2020. "Data Sources on Migrants' Labour Market and Education Integration in Austria," WIFO Working Papers 613, WIFO.
    12. Aoki, Yu & Santiago, Lualhati, 2018. "Speak better, do better? Education and health of migrants in the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1-17.
    13. Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Mathias Sinning & Steven Stillman, 2011. "Migrant Youths‘ Educational Achievement: The Role of Institutions," Ruhr Economic Papers 0292, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    14. Peter Huber & Georg Böhs, 2017. "Erfassung von Asylwerberinnen und Asylwerbern der Jahre 2005 bis 2014 auf Grundlage von Krankenversicherungsdaten und deren Arbeitsmarktkarriere," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 60720, August.
    15. Ohinata, Asako & van Ours, Jan C., 2012. "Young immigrant children and their educational attainment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 116(3), pages 288-290.
    16. Peter Huber & Thomas Horvath & Julia Bock-Schappelwein, 2017. "Österreich 2025 – Österreich als Zuwanderungsland," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 90(7), pages 581-588, July.
    17. Aoki, Yu & Santiago, Lualhati, 2015. "Education, Health and Fertility of UK Immigrants: The Role of English Language Skills," IZA Discussion Papers 9498, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I29 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Other
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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