ERIC Number: ED609391
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Sep
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 978-0-660-36080-5
ISSN: ISSN-1205-9153
EISSN: N/A
A Canada-U.S. Comparison of the Economic Outcomes of STEM Immigrants. Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series
Picot, Garnett; Hou, Feng
Statistics Canada
In both Canada and the United States, immigrants constitute a disproportionately large share of the supply of university-educated labour trained in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. This article examines the Canada-U.S. differences in the occupational skill utilization and earnings of STEM-educated immigrant workers. Using data from the 2016 Census for Canada and the combined 2015 to 2017 American Community Survey, this analysis focuses on immigrants with a university degree in a STEM field who were aged 25 to 64 and arrived as adults. Over one-half of STEM-educated immigrant workers in both countries held non-STEM jobs. In Canada, only about 20% of these immigrants with non-STEM jobs worked in occupations that required a university education, compared with 48% in the United States. There was a large earnings gap between STEM-educated immigrants and native-born workers in Canada, even after adjusting for sociodemographic differences, while no corresponding earnings gap existed in the United States. The earnings gap in Canada was particularly large for STEM-educated immigrants holding non-STEM jobs. Possible explanations for these results are discussed.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Comparative Education, STEM Education, Immigrants, Labor Market, Job Skills, National Surveys, Census Figures, Educational Attainment, Salary Wage Differentials, Employment Patterns
Statistics Canada. 150 Tunney's Pasture Driveway, Ottawa, ON K1A 0T6, Canada. Tel: 800-307-3382; Fax: 613-951-4441; e-mail: educationstats@statcan.gc.ca; Web site: http://www.statcan.gc.ca
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Statistics Canada
Identifiers - Location: Canada; United States
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: American Community Survey
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A