Immigrant selection and short-term labor market outcomes by visa category

Abstract

This paper studies the efficacy of immigrant selection based on skill requirements in the Canadian context. The point system results in a much higher skill level than would otherwise be achieved by family preferences. This positive selection is achieved by directly selecting higher-skilled principal applicants who are assessed by the point system and also indirectly through higher-skilled spouses. However, due to difficulties in transfer of foreign human capital, immigrants admitted for their skills do not necessarily perform better in the labor market and important factors used to assess admissibility have very limited power to predict short-term labor market success. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.