Immigration Policy, National Origin, and Immigrant Skills: A Comparison of Canada and the United States
Year: 1991
Type: report
Abstract: Over 12 million persons migrated to Canada or the United States between 1959 and 1981.Beginning in the mid-1960s, the immigration policies of the two countries began to diverge considerably: the United States stressing family reunification and Canada stressing skills.This paper shows that the point system used by Canada generated, on average, a more skilled immigrant flow than that which entered the United States.This skill gap, however, is mostly attributable to differences in the national origin mix of the immigrant flows admitted by the two countries.In effect, the point system aworksh because it alters the national origin mix of immigrant flows, and not because it generates a more skilled immigrant flow from a given source country.
DOI: 10.3386/w3691
Author: George Borjas
Institutions: National Bureau of Economic Research, Harvard University
Language: English
Topic: Migration and Labor Dynamics
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1575128330