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A comparative analysis of immigrant skills and their utilization in Australia, Canada, and the USA

Author

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  • Andrew Clarke

    (University of Melbourne)

  • Mikal Skuterud

    (University of Waterloo)

Abstract

We compare literacy test scores and their impact on wage and employment outcomes of Australian, Canadian, and the US immigrants. Overall, we find little to distinguish the skills of immigrants to these three countries, although there is some indication of gains at the lower end of the distribution among Australian immigrants arriving after the mid-1990s. Relative immigrant wage returns to literacy are, however, substantially higher in the USA, which we argue reflects language-skill complementarities, as opposed to more efficient skill utilization or unobserved productivity characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:29:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s00148-016-0591-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-016-0591-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Deborah A. Cobb-Clark, 2003. "Public policy and the labor market adjustment of new immigrants to Australia," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 16(4), pages 655-681, November.
    2. Garry F. Barrett, 2012. "The Return to Cognitive Skills in the Australian Labour Market," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 88(280), pages 1-17, March.
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    9. Dechief, Diane & Oreopoulos, Philip, 2012. "Why do some employers prefer to interview Matthew but not Samir? New evidence from Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2012-8, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 19 Feb 2012.
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    12. Abdurrahman Aydemir & Mikal Skuterud, 2008. "The Immigrant Wage Differential within and across Establishments," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 61(3), pages 334-352, April.
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    16. Abdurrahman Aydemir & Mikal Skuterud, 2005. "Explaining the deteriorating entry earnings of Canada's immigrant cohorts, 1966 - 2000," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 38(2), pages 641-672, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Joel Blit & Mikal Skuterud & Jue Zhang, "undated". "The impact of patent protection on R&D. Evidence using export markets," Working Papers 17011, University of Waterloo, Department of Economics.
    2. Ildikó Kovács & Éva Réka Keresztes, 2022. "Young Employees’ Perceptions about Employability Skills for E-Commerce," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-28, December.
    3. David A. Green & Christopher Worswick, 2017. "Canadian economics research on immigration through the lens of theories of justice," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(5), pages 1262-1303, December.
    4. Ana Ferrer & Mikal Skuterud & Andrew Clarke, 2018. "A Comparative Analysis of the Labour Market Performance of University-Educated Immigrants in Australia, Canada, and the United States," Working Papers 1807, University of Waterloo, Department of Economics, revised 02 Jan 2018.
    5. Ameed Saabneh & Rebbeca Tesfai, 2021. "Does Immigrant Selection Policy Matter? Labor Market Integration of Ethiopian Immigrants in Israel and the United States," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(5), pages 955-985, October.
    6. Blit, Joel & Skuterud, Mikal & Zhang, Jue, 2017. "Immigration and innovation: Evidence from Canadian cities," CLEF Working Paper Series 12, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    7. Angela Daley & Min Hu & Casey Warman, 2019. "Language proficiency and immigrants’ economic integration," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 469-469, December.
    8. Andrew Clarke & Ana Ferrer & Mikal Skuterud, 2019. "A Comparative Analysis of the Labor Market Performance of University-Educated Immigrants in Australia, Canada, and the United States: Does Policy Matter?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(S2), pages 443-490.
    9. Samuel Vézina & Alain Bélanger, 2020. "Literacy Skills as an Explanation for Labor Market Imbalances by Occupational Type in Canada: Microsimulation Projections for 2014–2024," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(6), pages 1019-1049, December.
    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. Nick Manuel & Miana Plesca, 2020. "Skill transferability and the earnings of immigrants," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(4), pages 1404-1428, November.

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