Earnings of Indian Male Migrants in the Australian Labour Market

Phil Lewis () and Bilal Rafi
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Phil Lewis: University of Canberra
Bilal Rafi: University of Canberra

Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), 2014, vol. 17, issue 3, 257-275

Abstract: The number of Indian students and migrants in Australia has increased considerably from the mid-2000s, partly as a result of changes in migration policy which made it much easier to gain a visa to work and settle in Australia. This paper examines the earnings of Indian migrants in the Australian labour market controlling for educational attainment and demographic variables for Australian born Indian born, and other foreign born migrants from English speaking and non-English speaking backgrounds. The results suggest that the returns to educational qualifications in the Australian labour market for Indian born male migrants are markedly lower as compared to Australians and other migrants in general. These findings are consistent with the major hypothesis of this paper that Indian males in the labour market are not utilising their post-secondary qualifications to their full extent either due to divergent motivations that treat the possession of a post-secondary qualification as a secondary consideration, or the quality of their qualifications may be perceived to be of poorer quality. Both explanations have serious implications for Australia’s skilled migration policy and the labour market prospects of Indian migrants and workers in Australia.

Keywords: Indian migrants; Earnings; Migration; Returns to education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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