"The Discounting of Immigrants' Skills in Canada: Evidence and Policy
Recommendations" is the latest Choices study to be released as part of the
IRPP's Immigration and Refugee Policy research program. It is now available
on-line in Adobe (.pdf) format on the Institute's Web site, at
www.irpp.org.
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For immediate distribution
Tuesday, February 8, 2005
NEWS RELEASE
Study Reveals Low Returns on Immigrants; Foreign Education and Experience
Overcoming some of the causes, especially those that stem from market
failures, will require government leadership and intervention
Montreal; Canada continues to accept large numbers of skilled immigrants
every year, the majority of whom now come from non-European countries, but
their foreign-acquired education and work experience is significantly
discounted, says a new study released today by the Institute for Research
on Public Policy (IRPP.org).
The study reveals that the return on a year of foreign work experience is
only about one-third of what Canadian-based experience provides in terms of
higher earnings. And foreign education provides returns that are about 30
percent less than the returns to education obtained in Canada.
Authors Ross Finnie (Queen's University), Naomi Alboim (Queen's University)
and Ronald Meng (University of Windsor) explain that it is very important
"to take into account the source of immigrants' education and experience to
better understand their economic integration into the Canadian labour
market." For instance, they find that combining Canadian education with
foreign education makes the latter worth more in the Canadian labour
market. Moreover, they find no evidence that the education and work
experience immigrants acquire in Canada after their arrival is discounted.
The results of the study indicate that it is important for governments to
help overcome the information problems experienced by Canadian employers
who do not know the value of foreign work experience and education. In
terms of specific policy options, the authors focus on three core areas:
academic credentials, occupational competencies and language skills.
They call for greater government leadership and intervention to
• Support the strengthening of the Alliance of Credential Evaluation of
Canada, an umbrella group for credential assessment services
• Introduce incentives to encourage post-secondary institutions, regulatory
bodies and employers to develop and use competency-based assessment tools
• Introduce incentives to encourage employer sector councils and
occupational regulatory bodies to develop sector-specific language tests
• Establish bridging programs to address skill gaps
Finnie, Alboim and Meng conclude that there is "a need for all players to
work together in order to deal more effectively and more efficiently with
these complex issues." They call on the three levels of government,
educational institutions, employers, unions, regulatory bodies, academic
credential assessment services and immigrant settlement agencies, as well
as skilled immigrants and their associations, to pool their expertise and
resources to address this problem.
"The Discounting of Immigrants' Skills in Canada: Evidence and Policy
Recommendations" is the latest Choices study to be released as part of the
IRPP's Immigration and Refugee Policy research program. It is now available
on-line in Adobe (.pdf) format on the Institute's Web site, at
www.irpp.org.
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For more information or to request an interview, please contact the IRPP.
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please subscribe to the IRPP e-distribution service by visiting its Web
site, at www.irpp.org.
Founded in 1972, the Institute for Research in Public Policy (IRPP.org) is
an independent, national, nonprofit organization based in Montreal.
Contact:
Jasmine Sharma ( [log in to unmask])
Director of Communications and Public Relations (IRPP.org)
Office: (514) 985-2461, ext. 324, or cellular: (514) 235-8308
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