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International students, immigration and earnings growth: the effect of a pre-immigration host-country university education

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Listed:
  • Feng Hou

    (Social Analysis and Modelling Division, Statistics Canada
    University of Victoria)

  • Yuqian Lu

    (Social Analysis and Modelling Division, Statistics Canada)

Abstract

While destination-country education provides many potential advantages for immigrants, empirical studies in Australia, Canada and the USA have produced mixed results on the labour outcomes of immigrants who are former international students. This study uses large national longitudinal datasets to examine cross-cohort trends and within-cohort changes in earnings among three groups of young university graduates: immigrants who are former international students in Canada (Canadian-educated immigrants), foreign-educated immigrants who had a university degree before immigrating to Canada and the Canadian-born population. The results show that Canadian-educated immigrants on average had much lower earnings than the Canadian-born population but higher earnings than foreign-educated immigrants both in the short run and in the long run. However, Canadian-educated immigrants are a highly heterogeneous group, and the key factor differentiating their post-immigration earnings from the earnings of the Canadian-born population and foreign-educated immigrants is whether they held a well-paid job in Canada before becoming permanent residents. Furthermore, an extra year of Canadian work experience or an extra year of Canadian education experience before immigration added only a small or no earnings gain after immigration for Canadian-educated immigrants. JEL Classification: J15, J24, J61

Suggested Citation

  • Feng Hou & Yuqian Lu, 2017. "International students, immigration and earnings growth: the effect of a pre-immigration host-country university education," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-24, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:izamig:v:7:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1186_s40176-017-0091-5
    DOI: 10.1186/s40176-017-0091-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Aneta Bonikowska & Feng Hou & Garnett Picot, 2011. "A Canada-US Comparison of Labour Market Outcomes among Highly Educated Immigrants," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 37(1), pages 25-48, March.
    2. Hoyt Bleakley & Aimee Chin, 2004. "Language Skills and Earnings: Evidence from Childhood Immigrants," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(2), pages 481-496, May.
    3. Hou, Feng & Picot, Garnett & Bonikowska, Aneta, 2015. "Which Human Capital Characteristics Best Predict the Earnings of Economic Immigrants?," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2015368e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    4. Li, Qing & Sweetman, Arthur, 2014. "The quality of immigrant source country educational outcomes: Do they matter in the receiving country?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 81-93.
    5. Feng Hou & Garnett Picot, 2014. "Annual Levels of Immigration and Immigrant Entry Earnings in Canada," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 40(2), pages 166-181, June.
    6. Kristin F. Butcher, 1994. "Black Immigrants in the United States: A Comparison with Native Blacks and other Immigrants," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 47(2), pages 265-284, January.
    7. Feng Hou & Garnett Picot, 2016. "Changing Immigrant Characteristics and Pre-Landing Canadian Earnings: Their Effect on Entry Earnings over the 1990s and 2000s," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 42(3), pages 308-323, September.
    8. Feng Hou, 2014. "A General Approach to Effect Decomposition," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 95(3), pages 894-904, September.
    9. Peter S. Li, 2003. "Initial Earnings and Catch-Up Capacity of Immigrants," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 29(3), pages 319-337, September.
    10. Finnie, Ross, 2007. "International Mobility: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Effects on Individuals Earnings," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2007289e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    11. Serge Coulombe & Gilles Grenier & Serge Nadeau, 2012. "Human Capital Quality and the Immigrant Wage Gap," Working Papers 1212E, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
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    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Zong Jia & Skuterud, Mikal, 2017. "The relative labour market performance of former international students: Evidence from the Canadian National Graduates Survey," CLEF Working Paper Series 11, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    2. Chen, Zong Jia & Skuterud, Mikal, 2017. "The Relative Labour Market Performance of Former International Students: Evidence from the Canadian National Graduates Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 10699, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Valerie Preston & John Shields & Marshia Akbar, 2022. "Migration and Resilience in Urban Canada: Why Social Resilience, Why Now?," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1421-1441, September.
    4. 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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    More about this item

    Keywords

    International students; Immigration; Canadian education; Earnings;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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