EARNINGS OF IMMIGRANT CLASSES IN THE EARLY 1980S IN CANADA - A REEXAMINATION

It is widely believed that immigrants admitted on compassionate ground s such as refugees tend to perform poorly compared with immigrants sel ected for their skills. Recently, Statistics Canada has assembled a lo ngitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) which provides a unique opportu nity to examine whether the above view is correct. Relying on a subsam ple of male immigrants drawn from IMDB, the present study finds eviden ce of a rapid convergence in earnings among immigrant classes over tim e. From a policy perspective, the main conclusion is that age at entry is probably more important than many of the other immigrant attribute s reported at landing.