Postsecondary Field of Study and the Canadian Labour Market Outcomes of Immigrants and Non-immigrants

In Canada's federal system for economic (skilled) class immigrant selection, education is treated as if it is homogeneous and only differs in quantity. Some provinces, however, differentiate based on postsecondary field of study. This study explores the economic implications of field of study for each sex, and for two subgroups of immigrants, those educated in Canada and those educated elsewhere . Field of study is not observed to explain much of the earnings difference between immigrants and the Canadian born, though it is relatively more important for males than females in doing so. Interestingly, while there are a few exceptions, a general pattern is observed whereby the differences between high- and low-earning fields are not as large for immigrants as for the Canadian born. Similarly, social assistance receipt has smaller variance across fields for immigrants than for the Canadian born. Nevertheless, substantial inter-field differences are observed for each immigrant group.