Chapter 10: Concluding remarks

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The purpose of this study was to examine the empirical relationship between the relative labour market success (i.e., labour force status, wage earnings and the match between occupation and required schooling) of highly-educated immigrants to Canada and the location of study of their highest postsecondary certificate, degree or diploma. Much of the motivation for this empirical research came from recent Canadian research (see, for instance, Ferrer and Riddell, 2008; Gilmore and Le Petit, 2008; Alboim, Finnie and Meng, 2005) and international evidence (see, for instance, Chiswick, Cohen and Zach, 1997; Chiswick and Miller, 2008; 2009; Liebig, 2007) suggesting that human capital (i.e., education and/or labour market experience) is not fully transferable across countries. Using data from the 2006 Census of Population and descriptive and multivariate techniques, we compared different immigrant cohorts with a postsecondary education aged 25 to 64 to the Canadian-born with similar characteristics.

After accounting for a number of labour market characteristics, we found that compared to the Canadian-born, immigrants were more likely to be out of the labour force and less likely to be paid employees or self-employed. Further, we found supporting evidence for the hypothesis that intra-group variations in the labour market success of internationally-educated immigrants may be explained, at least in part, by the fact that in Canada, many stakeholders (such as prospective employers, regulatory bodies, assessment agencies, etc.) do not necessarily value postsecondary educational qualifications from all source regions on a unique standard. Compared to the Canadian-born, for example, very-recent immigrants who completed their postsecondary studies in Pakistan and South Korea were, respectively, 27% and 22% more likely to be out of the labour force. In contrast, those who completed their postsecondary education in the Philippines (+2%), India (+7%) or the Russian Federation (+6%) were only slightly more likely than the Canadian-born to be out of the labour force.

We also found evidence suggesting that, in the absence of Canadian postsecondary schooling, not all immigrants benefit from their length of time as permanent residents in Canada. Compared with the Canadian-born, for example, immigrants who completed their highest level of postsecondary education in Pakistan or South Korea were more likely to be out of the labour force and less likely to be paid employees, even when they had been permanent residents of Canada for at least 10 years. In contrast, established immigrants who completed their highest postsecondary studies in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom or France had on average the same probability as the Canadian-born of being undereducated employees or self-employed, all other things being equal.

Our estimates indicated that an average employed Canadian-born individual with a postsecondary education aged 25 to 64 was likely to have an earnings advantage over his / her immigrant counterpart, the magnitude of which depended on country of highest postsecondary education and immigration cohort. For example, the typical Canadian-born with a postsecondary education was likely to earn, on average, 62% more than a very-recent immigrant who completed his / her postsecondary studies in Pakistan or the Russian Federation. In contrast, the average earnings disadvantages associated with very-recent immigrants who completed their highest level of postsecondary education in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom were -32%, -30% and -25%, respectively. Our multivariate results showed the importance of accounting for selection bias when estimating the determinants of employment earnings in Canada. Last but not least, we investigated the extent to which the results may reflect differences in characteristics such as immigration status and potential Canadian labour market experience. Our sensitivity analyses offered similar conclusions, that is, relative to the Canadian born with similar observed attributes, immigrants with a postsecondary education aged 25 to 64 were more likely to experience a wage disadvantage that varied with location of study and duration of permanent residence in Canada.

Our findings led us to conclude that many employers who use education to assess the potential productivity of prospective labour market participants may perceive the "outcomes" of the British, American, French and German postsecondary education systems as having components that are more easily transferable to Canada than the "outcomes" of the Chinese, Russian Federation, Pakistani and South Korean postsecondary education systems. Our results lend support to the idea that many Canadian employers and several other stakeholders (such as regulatory bodies, assessment agencies, etc.) may not value postsecondary educational qualifications from all source regions on a unique standard.