IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ilrrev/v65y2012i2p377-397.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Immigrants and the Dynamics of High-Wage Jobs

Author

Listed:
  • 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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001979391206500208
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/001979391206500208?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter J. Kuhn & Herb J. Schuetze, 2001. "Self-employment dynamics and self-employment trends: a study of Canadian men and women, 1982-1998," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 34(3), pages 760-784, August.
    2. Deepti Goel & Kevin Lang, 2019. "Social Ties and the Job Search of Recent Immigrants," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 72(2), pages 355-381, March.
    3. Kugler, Adriana D., 2003. "Employee referrals and efficiency wages," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 531-556, October.
    4. Peter J. Kuhn & Herb J. Schuetze, 2001. "Self‐employment dynamics and self‐employment trends: a study of Canadian men and women, 1982–1998," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(3), pages 760-784, August.
    5. 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..
    6. Philip Oreopoulos, 2009. "Why Do Skilled Immigrants Struggle in the Labor Market? A Field Experiment with Six Thousand Resumes," NBER Working Papers 15036, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Blau, David M & Robins, Philip K, 1990. "Job Search Outcomes for the Employed and Unemployed," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(3), pages 637-655, June.
    8. 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.
    9. Stéphane Mahuteau & P.N. (Raja) Junankar, 2008. "Do Migrants get Good Jobs in Australia? The Role of Ethnic Networks in Job Search," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 84(s1), pages 115-130, September.
    10. Krueger, Alan B & Summers, Lawrence H, 1988. "Efficiency Wages and the Inter-industry Wage Structure," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(2), pages 259-293, March.
    11. James J. Heckman, 1998. "Detecting Discrimination," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 101-116, Spring.
    12. Baker, Michael & Benjamin, Dwayne, 1994. "The Performance of Immigrants in the Canadian Labor Market," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(3), pages 369-405, July.
    13. Ana Ferrer & W. Craig Riddell, 2008. "Education, credentials, and immigrant earnings," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 186-216, February.
    14. Peter Kuhn, 1998. "Innis Lecture: Unions and the Economy: What We Know; What We Should Know," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 31(5), pages 1033-1056, November.
    15. Deepti Goel & Kevin Lang, 2009. "Social Ties and the Job Search of Recent Immigrants," NBER Working Papers 15186, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Sweetman, Arthur, 2004. "Immigrant Source Country Educational Quality and Canadian Labour Market Outcomes," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2004234e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    17. Dale T. Mortensen, 2005. "Wage Dispersion: Why Are Similar Workers Paid Differently?," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262633191, April.
    18. Ana Ferrer & David A. Green & W. Craig Riddell, 2006. "The Effect of Literacy on Immigrant Earnings," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(2).
    19. 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.
    20. John M. Abowd & Robert H. Creecy & Francis Kramarz, 2002. "Computing Person and Firm Effects Using Linked Longitudinal Employer-Employee Data," Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Technical Papers 2002-06, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    21. Paul Frijters & Michael A. Shields & Stephen Wheatley Price, 2005. "Job Search Methods and Their Success: A Comparison of Immigrants and Natives in the UK," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(507), pages 359-376, November.
    22. Marc Frenette, 2004. "Do the Falling Earnings of Immigrants Apply to Self‐employed Immigrants?," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 18(2), pages 207-232, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stephanie Lluis & Brian McCall, 2017. "Part-Time Work and Crowding-Out Implications of Employment Insurance Pilot Initiatives," Working Papers 1701, University of Waterloo, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2017.
    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.

    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. Valentine Fays & Benoît Mahy & François Rycx, 2023. "Wage differences according to workers' origin: The role of working more upstream in GVCs," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 37(2), pages 319-342, June.
    2. Mikal Skuterud, 2010. "The visible minority earnings gap across generations of Canadians," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(3), pages 860-881, August.
    3. 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.
    4. Picot, Garnett & Sweetman, Arthur, 2005. "The Deteriorating Economic Welfare of Immigrants and Possible Causes: Update 2005," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2005262e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    5. Maude BOULET & Brahim BOUDARBAT, 2015. "The Economic Performance of Immigrants with Canadian Education," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 15(2), pages 23-40.
    6. Dostie, Benoit & Li, Jiang & Card, David & Parent, Daniel, 2023. "Employer policies and the immigrant–native earnings gap," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 233(2), pages 544-567.
    7. Valentine Fays & Benoît Mahy & François Rycx & Mélanie Volral, 2021. "Wage discrimination based on the country of birth: do tenure and product market competition matter?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(13), pages 1551-1571, March.
    8. McHale, John & Rogers, Keith, 2009. "Selecting Economic Immigrants: An Actuarial Approach," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2009-64, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 28 Nov 2009.
    9. Audra J. Bowlus & Masashi Miyairi & Chris Robinson, 2016. "Immigrant job search assimilation in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 49(1), pages 5-51, February.
    10. Fortin, Nicole & Lemieux, Thomas & Torres, Javier, 2016. "Foreign human capital and the earnings gap between immigrants and Canadian-born workers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 104-119.
    11. Casey Warman, 2007. "You Can Take It With You! The Returns To Foreign Human Capital Of Male Temporary Foreign Workers," Working Paper 1125, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    12. Michele Campolieti & Morley Gunderson & Olga Timofeeva & Evguenia Tsiroulnitchenko, 2013. "Immigrant Assimilation, Canada 1971–2006: Has the Tide Turned?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 455-475, December.
    13. Luciana Méndez Errico, 2013. "The Impacts of Social Networks on Immigrants’ Employment Prospects: The Spanish Case 1997-2007," Working Papers wpdea1301, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    14. Goldmann, Gustave & Sweetman, Arthur & Warman, Casey, 2009. "The Economic Return on New Immigrants' Human Capital: the Impact of Occupational Matching," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2009-30, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 22 Apr 2009.
    15. Christian Dustmann & Albrecht Glitz & Uta Schönberg & Herbert Brücker, 2016. "Referral-based Job Search Networks," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(2), pages 514-546.
    16. Glitz, Albrecht, 2017. "Coworker networks in the labour market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 218-230.
    17. 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.
    18. Ferrer, Ana M. & Picot, Garnett & Riddell, W. Craig, 2012. "New Directions in Immigration Policy: Canada’s Evolving Approach to Immigration Selection," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2012-34, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 30 Nov 2012.
    19. Valentine Jacobs & Kevin Pineda-Hernández & François Rycx & Mélanie Volral, 2023. "Does over-education raise productivity and wages equally? The moderating role of workers’ origin and immigrants’ background," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 698-724, November.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    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:sae:ilrrev:v:65:y:2012:i:2:p:377-397. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu .

    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.