IRPP Immigration and Integration Diversity, choicesVol. 14, no. 5, May 2008 ISSN 0711-0677 www.irpp.org The Impact of Economic Selection Policy on Labour Market Outcomes for Degree- Qualified Migrants in Canada and Australia Lesleyanne Hawthorne Lesleyanne Hawthorne is associate dean, international, at the University of Melbourne. Previously she was research manager at Australia’s ounded in 1972, the Institute for Research on Bureau of Immigration, Multicultural and Popu- Public Policy is an independent, national, lation Research. She has 20 years of experience F nonprofit organization. researching high skill migration. Most recently she was recruited by the Organisation for Economic IRPP seeks to improve public policy in Canada by Co-operation and Development to compare high generating research, providing insight and sparking skill migration patterns across 10 member nations. In 2005-06 Professor Hawthorne was appointed to debate that will contribute to the public policy an Expert Panel of Three by Australia’s federal decision-making process and strengthen the quality of cabinet to do the most extensive evaluation of the the public policy decisions made by Canadian nation’s skill migration program since 1988 (all professional fields). Since September 2007 the governments, citizens, institutions and organizations. panel’s recommendations have governed the selection of all economic migrants. In 2004-06 she IRPP's independence is assured by an endowment fund was commissioned by Citizenship and Immigration established in the early 1970s. Canada, Statistics Canada and Human Resources and Social Development Canada to compare labour market outcomes for migrant professionals in Canada and Australia in 10 key fields. In 2006-07 she completed the most complete Australian study ondé en 1972, l’Institut de recherche en to date on foreign medical graduates (following the politiques publiques (IRPP) est un organisme main Australian studies on global mobility in the engineering and nursing professions). Additional F canadien, indépendant et sans but lucratif. major consultancies include studies on global high-skill migration and foreign credential L’IRPP cherche à améliorer les politiques publiques recognition for the OECD and UNESCO. canadiennes en encourageant la recherche, en mettant de l’avant de nouvelles perspectives et en suscitant des This publication was produced under the direction débats qui contribueront au processus décisionnel en of Geneviève Bouchard, Research Director, IRPP. The manuscript was copy-edited by Mary Williams, matière de politiques publiques et qui rehausseront la proofreading was by Barbara Czarnecki, production qualité des décisions que prennent les gouvernements, was by Chantal Létourneau, art direction was by les citoyens, les institutions et les organismes Schumacher Design, and printing was by AGL Graphiques. canadiens. Copyright belongs to IRPP. To order or request L’indépendance de l’IRPP est assurée par un fonds de permission to reprint, contact: dotation établi au début des années 1970. IRPP 1470 Peel Street, Suite 200 Montreal, Quebec H3A 1T1 Telephone: 514-985-2461 Fax: 514-985-2559 E-mail: [email protected] All IRPP Choices and IRPP Policy Matters are available for download at www.irpp.org To cite this document: Hawthorne, Lesleyanne. 2008. “The Impact of Economic Selection Policy on Labour Market Outcomes for Degree-Qualified Migrants in Canada and Australia.” IRPP Choices 14 (5). The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of IRPP or its Board of Directors. Diversity, Immigration and Integration / Diversité, immigration et intégration Research Director / Directrice de recherche Geneviève Bouchard his series comprises individual IRPP Choices and IRPP Policy Matters studies on Canadian T immigration policy and its challenges, and also on other countries’ immigration and refugee policies. Issues discussed in this research program include the relationship between sovereignty and economic inte- gration, security and border control, and reconcilia- tion of economic and humanitarian objectives. ette série comprend des études Choix IRPP et Enjeux publics IRPP qui portent sur la poli- C tique canadienne d’immigration et ses nou- veaux défis, mais également sur les différentes politiques d’immigration et de protection de réfugiés partout au monde. Les questions abordées dans ce programme de recherche touchent aux rapports entre souveraineté et intégration économique, sécurité et contrôle des frontières, conciliation des objectifs économiques et humanitaires. Contents 2The Policy Context 7Canada’s and Australia’s Selection of Degree- Qualified Migrants 12 Employment Outcomes for Degree-Qualified Migrants: The 2001 Census 30 Employment Outcomes for Economic Principal Applicants 36 Conclusion 39 Appendix 42 Notes 44 References The Impact of Economic Selection Policy on Labour Market Outcomes for Degree-Qualified Migrants in Canada and Australia* Lesleyanne Hawthorne The Policy Context Economic migration trends lobal migration is a defining phenomenon of the early twenty-first century. Migration G embraces every category of people — skilled and unskilled, family member and refugee, legal and illegal, permanent and temporary. Temporary people movement is rising markedly. The relative accessibili- ty of one immigrant-receiving country may lower the number of immigrants seeking to enter another. Given the dynamism of these trends, the few nations with active1 immigration programs are constantly obliged to modify their entry policies, while encoun- tering “difficulties in harnessing their immigration programs to achieve diverse and often incompatible policy goals...to utilise immigration selection proce- dures to ensure positive outcomes in a diverse range of policy areas: economic development, human resource development, population and foreign affairs” (Stahl, Ball, Inglis and Gutman 1993, xiv). Canada and Australia are global exemplars of nation building through government planned and administered economic, family and humanitarian migration programs. By 2005, Australia had the world’s highest percentage of foreign-born residents (24.6 percent of the population, representing over 240 nationalities), followed by Canada at 19.2 percent and the United States at 11.7 percent (Miller 2005). Over the past decade, both Canada and Australia have placed extraordinary emphasis on the recruit- ment of migrants with skills (Organisation for * This IRPP Choices is an abridged, revised and updated version of Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] a study commissioned by Statistics Canada, Citizenship and 2006, 2008). In 2004, Canada selected 133,746 people Immigration Canada, and Human Resources and Social Development Canada, entitled “Labour Market Outcomes for in the economic category — in particular, it took sub- Migrant Professionals: Canada and Australia Compared” stantial numbers of points-tested principal applicants (Hawthorne 2007a). Like all papers in the series, it has been peer reviewed by two anonymous referees. (PAs) qualified in the professions. Skilled migrants 2 IRPP Choices, 14, Vol. no. 5, May 2008 constituted 59.6 percent of the total planned intake are, in order: China, India, Philippines, (224,346 people) at this time, far exceeding the tar- Pakistan, United States, Colombia, United Kingdom, South Korea, Iran and gets set for family (51,500 to 56,800) and humanitari- France…Canada plans to admit between an (30,800 to 33,800) entrants. By 2005, the number 240,000 and 265,000 immigrants in 2007. Of those about 60% are to be economic class, of economic migrants to Canada had risen to 156,310 meaning skilled workers, 25% family class, (counting business immigrants and provincial/territo- and 15% protected persons. (2007, A4) rial nominees), and an estimated 138,193 were due to The Impact of Economic Selection on Policy Labour Market Outcomes for Degree-Qualified Migrants in Canada and Australia, by Les arrive in 2006 (Cardozo and Guilfoyle 2007; Differences in Canadian and Australian Citizenship and Immigration Canada 2007). The pro- economic migration policy, 1999 to the present portion of economic migrants selected by Australia in Within this context, Canada competes for economic 2004-05 was virtually identical to that selected by migrants with Australia and other Western nations, as Canada (58 percent), including 77,800 applicants out well as with select parts of Africa, Asia and the Gulf of a permanent migrant/humanitarian intake of States. In the recent period, to address the needs of their 133,000 people. knowledge economies, Canada and Australia have: Australia’s preference for economic migrants has •Prioritized economic migration remained dynamic, with targets of 97,500 achieved •Diversified immigrant source countries and skill levels for 2005-06 and 2006-07, and 102,500 set for 2007- •Utilized points systems designed to improve selection 08 — the largest in the country’s history (Birrell, objectivity while maximizing employment outcomes Hawthorne and Richardson 2006; Australia, •Strengthened regional initiatives to encourage more Department of Immigration and Citizenship 2007a, geographically dispersed settlement patterns through 2008). Canada’s current immigration program allo- policy input and expanded settlement options cates 138,257 places for economic migrants out of a •Enhanced scope for two-step migration (the transi- total annual quota of 240,000 to 265,000 (reduced to tion from temporary to permanent status) about 57 percent