IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wat/wpaper/1504.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Occupational Skills and Labour Market Progression of Canadian Immigrant Women

Author

Listed:
  • Alicia Adsera

    (Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs, Princeton University)

  • Ana Ferrer

    (Department of Economics, University of Waterloo)

Abstract

We use the confidential files of the 1991-2006 Canadian Census, combined with information from O*NET on the skill requirements of jobs, to explore whether immigrant women behave as secondary workers, remaining marginally attached to the labour market and experiencing little career progression over time. Our results show that the labour market patterns of female immigrants to Canada do not fit this profile, but rather conform to patterns recently exhibited by married native women elsewhere, with rising participation and wage progression. At best, only relatively uneducated immigrant women in unskilled occupations may fit the profile of secondary workers, with slow skill mobility and low-status job-traps. Educated immigrant women, on the other hand, experience skill assimilation over time: a reduction in physical strength and an increase in analytical skills required in their jobs relative to those of natives.

Suggested Citation

  • Alicia Adsera & Ana Ferrer, 2015. "Occupational Skills and Labour Market Progression of Canadian Immigrant Women," Working Papers 1504, University of Waterloo, Department of Economics, revised Dec 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:wat:wpaper:1504
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://uwaterloo.ca/economics/sites/ca.economics/files/uploads/files/adsera_ferrer_skill_progression_women_2015.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David H. Autor & David Dorn, 2013. "The Growth of Low-Skill Service Jobs and the Polarization of the US Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1553-1597, August.
    2. Sarit Cohen-Goldner & Chemi Gotlibovski & Nava Kahana, 2009. "A Reevaluation Of the Role Of Family In Immigrants' Labor Market Activity;Evidence From a Comparison Of Single and Married Immigrants," Working Papers 2009-13, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics.
    3. Ana Ferrer & W. Craig Riddell, 2008. "Education, credentials, and immigrant earnings," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 41(1), pages 186-216, February.
    4. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Assimilation, Changes in Cohort Quality, and the Earnings of Immigrants," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 2, pages 3-29, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Aneta Bonikowska & Feng Hou & Garnett Picot, 2011. "A Canada-US Comparison of Labour Market Outcomes among Highly Educated Immigrants," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 37(1), pages 25-48, March.
    6. Ken Clark & Joanne Lindley, 2009. "Immigrant assimilation pre and post labour market entry: evidence from the UK Labour Force Survey," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(1), pages 175-198, January.
    7. Alessandra Fogli & Raquel Fernandez, 2009. "Culture: An Empirical Investigation of Beliefs, Work, and Fertility," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 146-177, January.
    8. Barry Chiswick & Paul Miller, 2010. "Occupational language requirements and the value of English in the US labor market," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(1), pages 353-372, January.
    9. Sweetman, Arthur & Warman, Casey, 2009. "Temporary Foreign Workers and Former International Students as a Source of Permanent Immigration," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2009-34, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 22 Jun 2009.
    10. Basilio, Leilanie & Bauer, Thomas K. & Sinning, Mathias, 2009. "Analyzing the labor market activity of immigrant families in Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 510-520, October.
    11. Mark C. Regets & Harriet Orcutt Duleep, 1999. "Immigrants and Human-Capital Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 186-191, May.
    12. Heather Antecol & Peter Kuhn & Stephen J. Trejo, 2006. "Assimilation via Prices or Quantities?: Sources of Immigrant Earnings Growth in Australia, Canada, and the United States," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(4).
    13. Duleep, Harriet & Dowhan, Daniel J., 2002. "Revisiting the Family Investment Model with Longitudinal Data: The Earnings Growth of Immigrant and U.S.-Born Women," IZA Discussion Papers 568, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Catalina Amuedo‐Dorantes & Sara De La Rica, 2007. "Labour Market Assimilation of Recent Immigrants in Spain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(2), pages 257-284, June.
    15. Ken Clark & Joanne Lindley, 2004. "Immigrant Arrival Effects And Labour Market Assimilation: Evidence From The Labour Force Survey," Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2004 68, Royal Economic Society.
    16. Hoyt Bleakley & Aimee Chin, 2004. "Language Skills and Earnings: Evidence from Childhood Immigrants," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(2), pages 481-496, May.
    17. Michael Beenstock & Barry Chiswick & Ari Paltiel, 2010. "Testing the immigrant assimilation hypothesis with longitudinal data," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 7-27, March.
    18. 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.
    19. Erling Barth & Bernt Bratsberg & Oddbjørn Raaum, 2004. "Identifying Earnings Assimilation of Immigrants under Changing Macroeconomic Conditions," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 106(1), pages 1-22, March.
    20. Ana M. Ferrer & Garnett Picot & William Craig Riddell, 2014. "New Directions in Immigration Policy: Canada's Evolving Approach to the Selection of Economic Immigrants," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 846-867, September.
    21. Christopher Worswick, 1999. "Credit Constraints and the Labour Supply of Immigrant Families in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 32(1), pages 152-170, February.
    22. Christian Dustmann & Francesca Fabbri, 2005. "Gender and Ethnicity--Married Immigrants in Britain," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 462-484, Autumn.
    23. Hou, Feng & Frank, Kristyn, 2013. "Cultural Influences Across Time and Space: Do Source-country Gender Roles Affect Immigrant Women's Paid and Unpaid Labour Activity?," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2013349e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    24. Charles M. Beach & Christopher Worswick, 1993. "Is There a Double-Negative Effect on the Earnings of Immigrant Women?," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 19(1), pages 36-53, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adserà, Alícia & Ferrer, Ana, 2016. "Occupational skills and labour market progression of married immigrant women in Canada," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 88-98.
    2. Alicia Adsera & Ana Ferrer, 2014. "Labour Market Progression of Canadian Immigrant Women," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1434, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    3. Adsera, Alicia & Ferrer, Ana, 2015. "The Effect of Linguistic Proximity on the Occupational Assimilation of Immigrant Men in Canada," IZA Discussion Papers 9499, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Alícia Adserà & Ana Ferrer, 2021. "Linguistic Proximity and the Labour Market Performance of Immigrant Men in Canada," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 35(1), pages 1-23, March.
    5. Lee, Taehoon & Peri, Giovanni & Viarengo, Martina, 2022. "The gender aspect of migrants’ assimilation in Europe," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    6. Cobb-Clark, Deborah & Crossley, Thomas F., 2004. "Revisiting the family investment hypothesis," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 373-393, June.
    7. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht, 2011. "Migration and Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 327-439, Elsevier.
    8. David A. Green & Christopher Worswick, 2017. "Canadian economics research on immigration through the lens of theories of justice," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1262-1303, December.
    9. Cláudia Duarte & Sónia Cabral, 2013. "Mind the gap! The relative wages of immigrants in the Portuguese labour market," Working Papers w201305, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    10. Akgüç, Mehtap & Ferrer, Ana, 2015. "Educational Attainment and Labor Market Performance: An Analysis of Immigrants in France," IZA Discussion Papers 8925, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. George J. Borjas, 2021. "The Slowdown in the Economic Assimilation of Immigrants: Aging and Cohort Effects Revisited Again," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 3, pages 31-65, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    12. Hou, Feng & Picot, Garnett, 2003. "The Rise in Low-income Rates Among Immigrants in Canada," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2003198e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    13. Sarit Cohen-Goldner & Chemi Gotlibovski & Nava Kahana, 2009. "A Reevaluation Of the Role Of Family In Immigrants' Labor Market Activity;Evidence From a Comparison Of Single and Married Immigrants," Working Papers 2009-13, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics.
    14. Ran Abramitzky & Leah Boustan, 2017. "Immigration in American Economic History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1311-1345, December.
    15. Sanromá, Esteban & Ramos, Raul & Simón, Hipólito, 2009. "Immigrant Wages in the Spanish Labour Market: Does the Origin of Human Capital Matter?," IZA Discussion Papers 4157, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Sarit Cohen-Goldner & Chemi Gotlibovski & Nava Kahana, 2009. "The role of marriage in immigrants’ human capital investment under liquidity constraints," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(4), pages 983-1003, October.
    17. Alicia Adserà & Ana Ferrer, 2014. "Immigrants and Demography: Marriage, Divorce, and Fertility," Working Papers 1401, University of Waterloo, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2014.
    18. Nguyen, Ha Trong & Duncan, Alan S, 2017. "Exchange rate fluctuations and immigrants' labour market outcomes: New evidence from Australian household panel data," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 174-186.
    19. Deborah Cobb-Clark & Marie D. Connolly & Christopher Worswick, 2001. "The Job Search and Investments of Immigrant Families," CEPR Discussion Papers 432, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    20. Dawson Chris & Veliziotis Michail & Hopkins Benjamin, 2014. "Assimilation of the migrant work ethic," Working Papers 20141407, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wat:wpaper:1504. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sherri Anne Arsenault (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dewatca.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.