Using several years of Canadian census data, this study examines cohort differences in educational attainment and earnings among childhood immigrants who arrived in Canada between 1960 and 1989. Successive cohorts of childhood immigrants had increasingly higher university completion rates than their Canadian-born peers by age 25–34. We find that this lead was tempered by declining earnings of immigrant parents relative to Canadian-born parents, particularly among the 1980s cohort. Despite rising university completion rates, wages of male (but not female) childhood immigrants lagged behind those of their Canadian-born peers. This gap can be accounted for largely by the rising share of members of racial minority groups and the decreasing incidence of full-time employment.
References
1.
AbadaT., HouF., and RamB.2009, Forthcoming “Ethnic Differences in Educational Attainment Among the Children of Canadian Immigrants.”Canadian Journal of Sociology34(1): 1–28.
2.
AiC., and NortonE. C.2003“Interaction Terms in Logit and Probit Models.”Economics Letters80: 123–129.
3.
AydemirA., ChenW.-H., and CorakM.2005“Intergenerational Earnings Mobility Among the Children of Canadian Immigrants.” Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper, Catalogue No. 11F0019MIE-No. 267.
4.
AydemirA., ChenW.-H., and CorakM.2008“Intergenerational Education Mobility Among the Children of Canadian Immigrants.” Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper, Catalogue No. 11F0019M-No. 316.
5.
AydemirA., ChenW.-H., CorakM., and SkuterudM.2005“Explaining the Deteriorating Entry Earnings of Canada's Immigrant Cohorts: 1966–2000.”Canadian Journal of Economics38(2): 641–672.
6.
AydemirA., ChenW.-H., CorakM., SkuterudM., and SweetmanA.2006“First and Second Generation Immigrant Educational Attainment and Labor Market Outcomes: A Comparison of the United States and Canada.” Discussion Paper No. 2298, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
7.
BakerM., and BenjaminD.1994“The Performance of Immigrants in the Canadian Labor Market.”Journal of Labor Economics12(3): 369–405.
8.
BauerP., and RiphahnR. T.2007“Heterogeneity in the Intergenerational Transmission of Educational Attainment: Evidence From Switzerland on Natives and Second-Generation Immigrants.”Journal of Population Economics20(2): 121–148.
9.
BonikowskaA.2008“Explaining the Education Gap Between Children of Immigrants and the Native Born: Allocation of Human Capital Investments in Immigrant Families.” In The Immigrant Experience: Networks, Skills and the Next Generation, Ph.D. Dissertation. Department of Economics, The University of British Columbia.
10.
BonikowskaA., HouF., and PicotG.2009“A Canada-US. Comparison of Labour Market Outcomes Among Highly Educated Immigrants.” Unpublished manuscript, Statistics Canada.
11.
BorjasG. J.1992“Ethnic Capital and Intergenerational Mobility.”Quarterly Journal of Economics107(1): 123–150.
12.
BorjasG. J.1994“Long-Run Convergence of Ethnic Skill Differentials: The Children and Grandchildren of the Great Migration.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review47(4): 553–573.
13.
BorjasG. J.1995a “Assimilation and Changes in Cohort Quality Revisited: What Happened to Immigrant Earnings in the 1980s?”Journal of Labor Economics13(2): 201–245.
14.
BorjasG. J.1995b “Ethnicity, Neighborhoods, and Human-Capital Externalities.”American Economic Review85(3): 365–390.
15.
BoydM.2008“Variations in Socioeconomic Outcomes of Second Generation Young Adults.”Canadian Diversity6(2): 20–24.
16.
CardD.2005Is the New Immigration Really So Bad? Working Paper No. 11547. NBER.
17.
CardD., DiNardoJ., and EstesE.2000“The More Things Change: Immigrants and the Children of Immigrants in the 1940s, 1970s, and the 1990s.” In Issues in the Economics of Immigration, chap. 6. Ed. BorjasG. J.New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Pp. 196–223.
18.
ChiswickB.1988“Differences in Education and Earnings Across Racial and Ethnic Groups: Tastes, Discrimination, and Investments in Child Quality.”Quarterly Journal of Economics103(3): 571–597.
19.
ChiswickB., and DebBurmanN.2004“Educational Attainment: Analysis by Immigrant Generation.”Economics of Education Review23(4): 361–379.
20.
CoelliM.2005“Parental Income Shocks and the Education Attendance of Youth.” In “Leading Determinants of Educational Attainment.” Ph.D. Dissertation. Department of Economics: The University of British Columbia.
21.
DuleepH. O., and RegetsM. C.2002“The Elusive Concept of Immigrant Quality: Evidence From 1970–1990.” Discussion Paper No. 631. Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
22.
DustmannC., and TheodoropoulosN.2006“Ethnic Minority Immigrants and Their Children in Britain.” Unpublished manuscript, University College London.
23.
FertigM., and SchmidtC. M.2002“First- and Second-Generation Migrants in Germany – What do We Know and What do People Think.” In Migration Policy and the Economy: International Experiences (Studies and Comments 1). Ed. RotteR., and SteinP.Munich: Hans Seidel-Stiftung, 179–218.
24.
FinnieR., and MuellerR.2008“Access to Post-Secondary Education in Canada Among First and Second Generation Canadian Immigrants: Raw Differences and Some of the Underlying Factors.” Unpublished manuscript, Statistics Canada.
25.
FrenetteM., and MorissetteR.2005“Will They Ever Converge? Earnings of Immigrant and Canadian-Born Workers Over the Last Two Decades.”International Migration Review39(1): 228–258.
26.
GangI., and ZimmermannK.2000“Is Child Like Parent? Educational Attainment and Ethnic Origin.”Journal of Human Resources35(3): 550–569.
27.
GreenD., and WorswickC.2010“Entry Earnings of Immigrant Men in Canada: The Roles of Labour Market Entry Effects and Returns to Foreign Experience.” In Canadian Immigration: Economic Evidence for a Dynamic Policy Environment. Ed. McDonaldT., RuddickE., SweetmanA., and WorswickC.Montreal and Kingston: Queen's Policy Studies Series, McGill-Queen's University Press: 77–110.
28.
HammarstedtM., and PalmeM.2005“Intergenerational Mobility, Human Capital Transmission and the Earnings of Second-Generation Immigrants in Sweden.” Discussion Paper No. 1943. Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
29.
HansenJ., and KuceraM.2004“The Educational Attainment of Second Generation Immigrants in Canada: Evidence From SLID.” Unpublished manuscript, Concordia University.
30.
HouF., and CoulombeS.2010, Forthcoming “The Earnings Gap of Canadian-Born Visible Minorities in the Public and Private Sectors.”Canadian Public Policy36(1): 29–43.
31.
HouF., and CoulombeS.2008“Declining Entry Earnings of Canada's Immigrants Over the Past Quarter Century: Re-Examining the Explanations.” Unpublished manuscript, Statistics Canada.
32.
KuceraM.2008“The Educational Attainment of Second Generation Immigrants in Canada: Analysis Based on the General Social Survey.”Human Resources and Social Development Canada, Learning Research Series SP-857-09-08E.
33.
NielseH., RosholmM., SmithN., and HustedL.2003“The School-to-Work Transition of 2nd Generation Immigrants in Denmark.”Journal of Population Economics16: 755–786.
34.
NortonE. C., WangH., and AiC.2004“Computing Interaction Effects and Standard Errors in Logit and Probit Models.”The Stata Journal4(2): 103–116.
35.
PendakurK., and PendakurR.2002“Colour My World: Has the Minority-Majority Earnings Gaps Changed Over Time?”Canadian Public Policy28(4): 489–512.
36.
PicotG., and HouF.2009“Immigrant Characteristics, the IT Bust, and Their Effect on Entry Earnings of Immigrants.” Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series, Catalogue No. 11F0019M – No. 315.
37.
ReitzJ. G.2001“Immigrant Success in the Knowledge Economy: Institutional Change and the Immigrant Experience in Canada, 1970–1995.”Journal of Social Issues57: 579–613.
38.
RiphahnR.2003“Cohort Effects in the Educational Attainment of Second Generation Immigrants in Germany: An Analysis of Census Data.”Journal of Population Economics16(4): 711–737.
39.
RoothD.-O., and EkbergJ.2003“Unemployment and Earnings of Second Generation Immigrants in Sweden. Ethnic Background and Parent Composition.”Journal of Population Economics16: 787–814.
40.
RumbautR.2004“Ages, Life Stages, and Generational Cohorts: Decomposing the Immigrant First and Second Generations in the United States.”International Migration Review38(3): 1160–1205.
41.
SchaafsmaJ., and SweetmanA.2001“Immigrant Earnings: Age at Immigration Matters.”Canadian Journal of Economics34(4): 1066–1099.
42.
SchellenbergG., and MaheuxH.2007“Immigrants’ Perspectives on Their First Four Years in Canada: Highlights From Three Waves of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada.”Canadian Social Trends, Special edition Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Catalogue No. 11–008.
43.
SkuterudM., and HouF.2008“The Visible Minority Earnings Gap Across Generations of Canadians.” Unpublished manuscript, Statistics Canada.
44.
Statistics Canada2006a “Topic-Based Tabulations, Census of Population.” Catalogue No. 97-557-XCB2006010.
45.
Statistics Canada2006b “Topic-Based Tabulations, Census of Population.” Catalogue No. 97-557-XCB2006023.
46.
ThomasD.2005“I Am Canadian.”Canadian Social Trends Spring, 76: 2–7. Statistics Canada -Catalogue No. 11–088.
47.
Van OursJ., and VeenmanJ.2001“The Educational Attainment of Second Generation Immigrants in the Netherlands.” Discussion Paper No. 297, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
