International students in Canada – The benefit of Canadian study experience grows in the longer term.

Although international students are increasingly considered a pool of skilled individuals for permanent residency and participation in the Canadian labour market, the role of Canadian study in economic outcomes after immigration is not well understood. To this end, this article examines the relationship between pre-immigration study in Canada and post-immigration earnings.

Findings show a trend towards rising shares of economic immigrants with Canadian education. Over the 2000-to-2019 period, the share of new economic principal applicant immigrants with Canadian study experience increased from 6% to 38%. During the first two years after immigration, economic principal applicants with Canadian study experience earned considerably more than those who did not study in Canada. This advantage was due entirely to their better official language ability and much higher shares with pre-immigration Canadian work experience. When compared only with immigrants who had  similar language profiles and pre-landing Canadian work experience, those with Canadian study experience earned significantly less, mostly because of their higher tendency to pursue further schooling in the initial years after immigration. While lower annual earnings in their first few years after immigration reflected their continued status as students, the benefit of Canadian study experience grew in the longer term. Ten to 11 years after immigration, economic principal applicant immigrants with at least one year of Canadian study experience had significantly higher earnings than those without such experience, regardless of whether they had pre-immigration Canadian work experience. The findings of this study suggest that for economic immigrants who are recent graduates and new entrants to the labour market, it takes some time to translate their Canadian credentials into stronger economic outcomes.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story @  International students as a source of labour supply: Pre-immigration study in Canada and post-immigration earnings