Immigrant Skill Selection and Utilization: A Comparative Analysis of Australia, Canada, and the United States

Andrew Clarke () and Mikal Skuterud

CLSSRN working papers from Vancouver School of Economics

Abstract: We compare literacy test scores and relative wage and employment outcomes of Australian, Canadian and U.S. immigrants using the 2003/2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS). We find substantially higher immigrant skill levels at the lower end of the distribution in Australia, especially among recent arrivals, but little difference across countries at the top. In addition, we identify substantially larger wage returns to immigrant skill in the U.S., which we argue reflects language-skill complementarities, as opposed to more efficient skill utilization or unobserved productivity characteristics. Our results suggest that the benefit of a point system for the U.S. lies in its potential to limit unskilled immigration flows, rather than in raising skills at the top end of the distribution where the economic growth potential of immigration is likely greatest.

Keywords: Immigrant workers; labour market integration; immigrant selection policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J31 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2014-09-22, Revised 2014-09-22
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Working Paper: Immigrant Skill Selection and Utilizatin: A Comparative Analysis of Australia, Canada, and the United States (2014)
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