Immigrant Earnings Growth: Selection Bias or Real Progress?

This paper studies the effect of selective attrition on estimates of immigrant earnings growth based on repeated cross-sectional data in Canada. Longitudinal tax data linked to immigrant landing records are used in order to estimate the change in immigrant earnings and the immigrant-Canadian-born earnings gap. The results are compared with those from repeated cross-sectional data. This approach eliminates differences in results that may stem from variation in collection modes and procedures across datasets.