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A History of Canadian Recruitment of Highly Skilled Immigrants: Circa 1980-2001

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  • DeVoretz, Don J.

    (Simon Fraser University)

Abstract

This paper identifies the types of immigrants that Canada has recruited to foster modern Canadian economic development and assesses how effective Canada has been in recruiting and retaining these required immigrants in the 21st century. Evidence from both “balance of trade” and “balance of payments” exercises indicates that it is difficult to determine if there actually exist positive net inflows of managers and professionals during the 1982-2001 period. The entry of these highly skilled immigrants resulted from a series of distinct labour market policies adopted by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and its predecessor agencies. The paper presents evidence to support that between 1976-1990 a “tap on-tap off” policy admitted skilled immigrants to Canada only if a labour vacancy was anticipated. However, after 1990 tests reveal that the previous year’s economic immigrant admissions determined the contemporary immigrant flows with a 10 month lag. Offsetting this robust admission of economic immigrants in the 1990’s was the substantial outflows of previous Canadian immigrants as part of the rising phenomenon of “brain circulation”. Of particular note is the large number of highly skilled Chinese who have returned to Hong-Kong after 1997. Given this “brain circulation” and the chronic underutilization of its highly trained immigrants I conclude that Canada’s traditional use of immigrants as an "engine of growth" is very limited in the 21st century and suggest recruitment of foreign graduate students to revitalize the role of immigrants in Canadian development.

Suggested Citation

  • DeVoretz, Don J., 2006. "A History of Canadian Recruitment of Highly Skilled Immigrants: Circa 1980-2001," IZA Discussion Papers 2197, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2197
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stark, Oded & Lucas, Robert E B, 1988. "Migration, Remittances, and the Family," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(3), pages 465-481, April.
    2. Alan G. Green & David A. Green, 1999. "The Economic Goals of Canada's Immigration Policy, Past and Present," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 25(4), pages 425-451, December.
    3. DeVoretz, Don J. & Pivnenko, Sergiy & Beiser, Morton, 2004. "The Economic Experiences of Refugees in Canada," IZA Discussion Papers 1088, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. James R. MARKUSEN, 2021. "Factor Movements And Commodity Trade As Complements," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 15, pages 325-340, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. DeVoretz, Don J., 2004. "Immigration Policy: Methods of Economic Assessment," IZA Discussion Papers 1217, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. DeVoretz, Don J. & Vadean, Florin, 2005. "A Model of Foreign-Born Transfers: Evidence from Canadian Micro Data," IZA Discussion Papers 1714, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Collins, William J & O'Rourke, Kevin Hjortshøj & Williamson, Jeffrey G, 1997. "Were Trade and Factor Mobility Substitutes in History?," CEPR Discussion Papers 1661, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
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    Cited by:

    1. Masud Chand, 2016. "Leveraging the Diaspora for Africa’s Economic Development," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 273-290, September.
    2. Masud Chand & Rosalie L. Tung, 2010. "Diaspora as the boundary-spanners: The role of trust in business facilitation," Journal of Trust Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 107-129, November.
    3. Tondji, Jean-Baptiste, 2015. "Wage of Immigrants in the Canadian Labour Market," MPRA Paper 80783, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    immigration policy;

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

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