Skilled Immigrants Research Articles

The Intersection of Cross-Border Migration and the Reconciliation of Work and Family: Chinese-Speaking Immigrant Women in Australia

The Intersection of Cross-Border Migration and the Reconciliation of Work and Family: Chinese-Speaking Immigrant Women in Australia

Chinese grand(parenting) encourages a re‐imagining of Canada's immigration regime

AbstractCanada's migration regime prioritizes the admission of young skilled immigrants while restricting elderly immigrants constructed as non‐contributing dependents. We review and compare the current pathways to family reunification for elderly immigrants. Based on interviews with 16 Chinese skilled immigrant mothers and eight sponsored (grand)parents in Edmonton and Ottawa, we highlight the contributions made by elderly Chinese immigrants to social reproduction, intergenerational cultural preservation, and various forms of transnational support. We also reveal the financial and emotional costs incurred by young skilled immigrants who sought to sponsor their elderly parents for permanent residency. Based on these rich conversations, we propose two policy recommendations to reduce the pressure on sponsoring family members and create opportunities for elderly immigrants to access gainful employment.

Immigrants, Foreign Workers and Bilateral Trade: Evidence from Türkiye

This study scrutinizes distinctively the impact of immigrants and foreign workers on Türkiye’s bilateral trade with their countries of origin. For this purpose, we use data related to the total migration stock of the country and the foreign workers in Turkish firms from 2015 to 2021. Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimation results indicate a positive association between migration and trade in Türkiye in line with previous studies. The results show that a 10% growth in the immigrant stock from a country contributes to Türkiye's exports to that country by 1.8% and imports from that country by 1.4%. These effects are 1.6% and 2.4%, respectively, in the case of foreign workers per se. The findings partially confirm that the trade facilitating effects of foreign workers, which are assumed to be more qualified than the average in terms of education, skill, and experience, are larger than all immigrants. To put it differently, immigrants generally improve Türkiye's exports more than skilled immigrants who increase its imports less than immigrants overall.

The changing profile of the internationally educated nurse workforce: Post-pandemic implications for health human resource planning.

As part of its post COVID-19 recovery plan, the Canadian government is increasing the number of skilled immigrants, including Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs). However, pre-pandemic data show that IENs are underutilized and underemployed despite their education and experience. Focusing on the province of Ontario, this article explores trends in the IEN workforce and policies to address the nursing shortage. Barriers to IEN integration are reviewed and changes in the demographic and employment characteristics of IENs are analyzed. The disproportionate number of IENs employed in the Ontario long-term care sector, which has low wages and poor working conditions, emphasizes the need for policies that support the integration of IENs into the broader Canadian health system and increase their earning potential. To engage in strategic workforce planning and policy development, health leaders require access to nurse demographic and employment data that is timely and reflects the international and domestic labour supply.

Econometrics Modelling Approach to Examine the Effect of STEM Policy Changes on Asian Student’s Enrollment Decision in USA

Academic research has shown significant interest in international student mobility, with previous literature primarily focusing on the migration industry from a political and public policy perspective. For many countries, international student mobility plays a crucial role in bolstering their economies through financial gains and attracting skilled immigrants. While previous studies have explored the determinants of mobility and country economic policies, only a few have examined the impact of policy changes on mobility trends. In this study, the researchers investigate the influence of immigration policy changes, particularly the optional practical training (OPT) extension on STEM programs, on Asian students' preference for enrolling in STEM majors at universities. The study utilizes observational data and employs a quasi-experimental design, analysing the information using the difference-in-difference technique. The findings of the research indicate that the implementation of the STEM extension policy in 2008 has a significant effect on Asian students' decisions to enroll in a STEM major. Additionally, the study highlights the noteworthy role of individual factors such as the specific STEM major, terminal degree pursued, and gender in influencing Asian students' enrollment decisions.

Immigration, migrant international cash transfers, backward-externality of emigrant human capital, and total factor productivity in Africa

ABSTRACT In recent years, the effects of migration on economic outcomes have gained significant attention among researchers and policymakers. In the African context, the complex interplay between migration and economic outcomes is of particular importance, as many countries face unique challenges, such as limited resources, ongoing conflicts, and uneven development. This paper explores the impact of immigration, international migrant cash transfers, and emigration on total factor productivity in Africa, and its implications for public policy. We used the World Development Indicators, the Pen World Table from 2000 to 2020, and instrumental variable estimation in an endogenous growth model. The findings indicate that emigrant human capital and remittances have a negative impact on total factor productivity, whereas immigrant human capital positively affects it. These results highlight the importance of well-defined public migration policies that promote brain circulation, attract skilled immigrants, enhance domestic human capital development, and foster regional co-operation.

Expected Occupational Contexts and Postgraduate Pursuit among Skilled Immigrants and Natives in the United States

For college-educated immigrants, investing in a US postgraduate degree plays a critical role in skill transfer and career enhancement. However, little is known about the role of the US occupational structure, a key aspect in immigrants’ context of reception, in shaping immigrants’ postgraduate decisions. Using 2015 National Survey of College Graduates and linking three occupational characteristics to the field of study of bachelor's degree from the Survey of Income and Program Participation and Current Population Survey, this article examines the associations of rising educational expectation, occupational sex segregation, and occupational immigrant concentration with the pursuit of a US master's degree among college-educated immigrants and natives. The analysis shows that while occupational female share was positively associated with postgraduate pursuit among natives, such relationship was weaker among immigrants with a foreign bachelor's degree. In contrast, occupational immigrant concentration was positively associated with postgraduate pursuit among foreign-educated immigrants but negatively among natives. The occupational share of workers with advanced degrees operated similarly between natives and immigrants. Moreover, these occupational effects varied more by immigration status than by gender. These findings underscore the host country's occupational contexts that generate different incentives and constraints for immigrants and natives to pursue a postgraduate degree. This adds nuance to the immigrant human capital investment model that posits immigrants will invest more in human capital than natives. The differential postgraduate investment between immigrants and natives in response to the occupational contexts yield implications for subsequent education–occupation match, career mobility, and economic stratification within the highly educated workforce.

Supporting Immigrants’ Employability? Experiences in Digital Pedagogy Applied with Immigrant Learners in Turku in Southwest Finland

Abstract Labor shortages and labor mismatches are common emergent problems in Finland, ones which will occur on a much broader scale in the future in an aging society. Immigrants constitute an important pool of labor, but sometimes it is difficult for them to find even a first job in local labor markets. Studies have shown that mastering the language of the host country is a crucial factor in the success of immigrants’ employment. The AboaNova development project in Turku, Southwest Finland, funded by the European Social Fund, aimed to promote two-way integration by developing new methods and pedagogical tools to speed up employment and support the linguistic skills of immigrants in the Finnish language. As one example, the project applied interactive digital pedagogy and learning analytics to support both language learning and guidance for on-the-job learning to enter the labor market. However, the challenge in implementing new tools often has to do with resistance and suspicious attitudes encountered at different organizational levels during development projects.

Hard Exterior, Soft Interior: Skill Regulation and Employer Control over Migrant Worker Selection Policy in Australia

Abstract This paper utilises a regulatory analysis of skilled visas and insights from labour law scholarship to examine how Australian immigration law regulates ‘skill’ and the implications for migrant workers’ employment relationships. While qualifications or ‘hard skills’ act as the formal basis for selection under Australian immigration law, interpersonal attributes associated with ‘soft skills’ often decide who employers recruit. Immigration regulations that allow employers discretion to recruit based on soft skills widen scope for employer misuse and migrant worker exploitation, including for those on high-skilled visas, and for diversity bias against women and ethnic minorities. Our major theoretical contribution is to highlight how immigration laws that give employers discretion over the criteria used in skilled immigration selection intensify power imbalances within the contract of employment. The regulatory definitions of skill constructed by immigration law can thus serve as an additional lever of employer control. The findings indicate that precise regulation of skill is necessary to limit the potential for employers to exert undue control over migrants in worker selection processes.

‘Good jobs’, training and skilled immigration

AbstractHas skilled immigration into the UK led to a reduction in the training of native‐born workers? To address this concern, this paper describes a theoretical model where immigration can affect the training of native‐born workers both positively and negatively, and where its effects may differ according to the characteristics of the migrant and of the training firm's sector. It then investigates this issue empirically using UK Labour Force Survey data from 1995 to 2018. At the aggregate level, there is a small positive association between skilled immigration and native training rates. However, a more disaggregated analysis finds that the relationship between immigration and native training depends on the skill level of the immigrant, the skill level of trainees, and the sector into which immigration occurs. In particular, traded goods sectors show a positive association between training of UK‐born workers and both unskilled and skilled immigration. In non‐traded high‐wage sectors, the association between skilled immigration and UK‐born training is negative. These findings highlight the importance of allowing for heterogeneous effects from immigration when formulating policy or when modelling immigration's effects across the wider economy.

The Role of Employers in Selecting Highly Skilled Immigrants: Potentials and Limitations

The Role of Employers in Selecting Highly Skilled Immigrants: Potentials and Limitations

Low Job Market Integration of Skilled Immigrants in Canada: The Implication for Social Integration and Mental Well-Being

Skilled immigrants are critical assets to the social and economic dynamism of Canada. However, they are less likely to find employment matching their skillset due to a lack of inclusive post-immigration professional integration policies and support. They generally earn less and often live below the low-income cutoff relative to their Canadian-born counterparts. This paper aims to review the current situation of low job market integration (LJMI) of skilled immigrants in Canada and its implications on their social integration and mental well-being. Skilled immigrants continue to face disparities in getting desired jobs, despite having sufficient skills and credentials similar if not superior to that of Canadian-borns. Based on the existing literature, this study demonstrates that low job market integration limits skilled immigrants’ productivity, and they experience a lower level of social integration and deteriorated mental well-being. Therefore, initiatives from multidisciplinary and multisector stakeholders are necessary to improve skilled immigrants’ mental well-being by providing equal opportunities devoid of social exclusion and marginalization.

How Do Restrictions on High-Skilled Immigration Affect Offshoring? Evidence from the H-1B Program

Highly skilled workers are not only a crucial and relatively scarce input into firms’ productive and innovative processes, but are also a critical resource determining competitive advantage. An increasingly high proportion of these workers in the United States were born abroad and permitted to work on skilled worker visas. How do multinational firms respond when artificial constraints, namely, policies restricting skilled immigration, are placed on their ability to hire scarce human capital? This paper combines visa microdata and comprehensive data on U.S. multinational firm activity to demonstrate that firms respond to restrictions on H-1B immigration by increasing foreign affiliate employment at the intensive and extensive margins, particularly in China, India, and Canada. The most impacted jobs were R&D-intensive ones, but there is some evidence that non-R&D employment was also affected. The paper highlights a means by which firms can circumvent constraining policies and mitigate country-level risk, and it also suggests that, for the average multinational company (MNC), this means is imperfect; for every visa rejection, they hire 0.4 employees abroad. The most globalized MNCs are the most likely to respond to these restrictions by offshoring, highlighting that firm capabilities—in the form of prior internationalization—shape the decision and ability to offshore in response to skilled immigration restrictions; indeed, these firms hire 0.9 employees abroad for every visa rejection. More broadly, the paper provides evidence of a push factor for internationalizing knowledge activity: artificial constraints on resources result in firms circumventing restrictive policies in ways that may not be anticipated by policy makers. This paper was accepted by Alfonso Gambardella, business strategy. Funding: This work was supported by the Mack Institute for Innovation Management. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4715 .

Successful due to STEM? Labour market returns to STEM qualifications among skilled immigrants in Germany

ABSTRACT Against the growing demand for the STEM labour force, the study examines labour market returns to STEM qualifications among immigrants who arrived in Germany since the 1980s. Analysing the German microcensus data for years 2015 and 2016, we demonstrate that skilled immigrants with STEM qualifications largely attain better labour market outcomes in Germany compared to immigrants without STEM qualifications, thus narrowing the gap to their native-born counterparts. Male immigrants succeed in utilizing their STEM capital better than female immigrants, but all immigrants face difficulties in translating their STEM qualifications into STEM employment. Our analyses further focus on returns to various STEM qualifications, attesting that medical qualifications are especially beneficial for Germany’s female immigrants. The analysis of heterogeneous effects of STEM qualifications across major migrant groups reveals that Eastern European male immigrants make the best of their STEM qualifications, whereas among women, STEM qualified from Turkey or MENA countries are the most successful. These and other findings are discussed both from the supply and demand sides of the labour market.

Transnational sensemaking narratives of highly skilled Canadian immigrants' career change

PurposeThe authors answer calls for research on the experiences of international professionals' career transitions by investigating how highly skilled immigrants make sense of their career changes in the host country's labor market.Design/methodology/approachThe authors report on a qualitative, inductive and elaborative study, drawing on sensemaking theories and career transitions literature and nine semi-structured reflective interviews with highly skilled Canadian immigrants.FindingsThe authors identified four career change narratives: mourning the past, accepting the present, recreating the past and starting fresh. These narratives are made sense of in a transnational context: participants contended with tensions between past, present and future careers and between relevant home and host country factors affecting their career decisions. Participants who were mourning the past or recreating the past identified more strongly with their home country professions and struggled to find resources in Canada. In accepting the present and starting fresh, participants leveraged host country networks to find career opportunities and establish themselves and their families in the new environment.Originality/valueA transnational ontology emphasizes that immigrants' lives are multifaceted and span multiple national contexts. The authors highlight how the tensions between the home and host country career contexts shape immigrants' sensemaking narratives of their international career change. The authors encourage scholars and practitioners to take a transnational contextual approach (spatial and temporal) to guide immigrants' career transitions and integration into the new social environment.

Does Certifying Foreign Qualifications Lead to Better Immigrant Skills Utilization?

Using a novel panel dataset on recent immigrants in Switzerland, we study the relationship between the degree of skills utilization, the foreign-acquired education and its certification in the host country. We find that the relationship with foreign education is negative, especially when acquired in a non-EU country, in line with the literature documenting the imperfect international transferability of human capital. Obtaining a “Certificate of Equivalence” in Switzerland makes this relationship statistically non-significant: in other words, the certification enables immigrants to enjoy the same degree of skills utilization in the Swiss labour market as those with Swiss education. Additional results suggest that immigrants with a foreign but not Swiss-certified education keep the degree of skill utilization as high as it would be if they were Swiss educated when they obtain a job contract or job offer before migrating to Switzerland. These findings are robust to controlling for self-selection on unobserved characteristics.

White Anglo patriarchal possession in organizations: Unequal vertical career progressions among Anglo White & non‐Anglo White highly skilled immigrant women

AbstractWithin the discussion of highly skilled immigrant women workers in organizations, dominant discourses continue to pay little attention to the gender/racial dimension in relation to career progression. Although research of skilled immigrant women has revealed important insights into how the intersection of gender, race, and class shape women's work experience, the White Anglo colonial male promotion practices inscribed on Australian organizations in relation to skilled immigration remain little researched in Australia. This article explores the differences between the career progressions of cisgender, highly skilled immigrant women of different racial and ethnic backgrounds employed in a variety of industries. It reveals how both Anglo White and non‐Anglo White highly skilled immigrant women were affected by colonial patriarchal power relations, which served to hinder their career progression. However, the Whiteness of the top levels of the Australian capitalist colonial labor market benefitted the White Anglo group's vertical career growth.

Education-Occupation Mismatch and Nativity Inequality Among Highly Educated U.S. Workers.

Extensive research has documented persistent nativity inequality in the U.S. labor market, even among high-skilled immigrants. Yet, this phenomenon has not been sufficiently explained. This study investigates whether different types of education-occupation mismatch are a source of this inequality. Using longitudinal data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, we examine nativity differences in the incidence and wage penalty of education-occupation mismatch among highly educated workers. The results demonstrate that high-skilled immigrants, especially those with foreign degrees, are more vulnerable to vertical and horizontal mismatch and suffer higher wage penalties from mismatched employment than similarly educated native-born workers. Auxiliary analyses show that the disadvantage foreign-educated skilled immigrants experience is largely concentrated among immigrants from countries with lower quality tertiary education, immigrants with lower English proficiency, and those with degrees in non-STEM fields and fields with demanding licensing requirements. These results point to skilled immigrants' limited human capital transferability, which stems from the quality and applicability of educational credentials, language proficiency, and institutional barriers.

Skilled immigrants' job search: the role of self-efficacy, future orientation, and work involvement

Skilled immigrants' job search: the role of self-efficacy, future orientation, and work involvement

Permanent Residency Policy and Skilled Immigration: Evidence from a Swedish Reform

Permanent Residency Policy and Skilled Immigration: Evidence from a Swedish Reform