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Immigrants and the Dynamics of High-Wage Jobs

Author

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  • Mikal Skuterud
  • Mingcui Su

Abstract

The authors exploit immigrant identifiers in the Canadian Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the longitudinal dimension of these data to compare the labor force and job dynamics of immigrants and native-born workers. They examine the role of job, as opposed to worker, heterogeneity in driving immigrant wage disparities and investigate how the paths into and out of jobs of varying quality compare between immigrant and native-born workers. They find that the disparity in immigrant job quality, which does not appear to diminish with years since arrival, reflects a combination of relatively low transitions into high-wage jobs and high transitions out of these jobs. The former result appears to be due equally to difficulties obtaining high-wage jobs directly out of unemployment and to using low-wage jobs as stepping-stones. The authors find little or no evidence, however, that immigrant job seekers face barriers to low-wage jobs.

Suggested Citation

  • Mikal Skuterud & Mingcui Su, 2012. "Immigrants and the Dynamics of High-Wage Jobs," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(2), pages 377-397, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:65:y:2012:i:2:p:377-397
    DOI: 10.1177/001979391206500208
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. 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.
    3. Susumu Imai & Derek Stacey & Casey Warman, 2019. "From engineer to taxi driver? Language proficiency and the occupational skills of immigrants," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(3), pages 914-953, August.
    4. Kimberly Wong, 2020. "The Improved Labour Market Performance of New Immigrants to Canada, 2006-2019," CSLS Research Reports 2020-03, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    5. Asadul Islam & Faridul Islam & Chau Nguyen, 2017. "Skilled Immigration, Innovation, and the Wages of Native-Born Americans," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 459-488, July.

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