Overview

Abstract (English)

This dissertation is composed of three essays on internal migration. The first essay entitled “Internal Migration, Self-selection and Earnings of Canadian Immigrants” investigates the post-arrival human capital investment behavior of immigrants, migration particularly, and its effect on individual earnings, compared with Canadian-born using the up-to-date longitudinal datasets–the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrant to Canada (LSIC) and the Survey of Labor and Income Dynamics (SLID). The double self-selectivity of migration and labor force participation are considered in the wage and wage growth models. The investment in internal migration activity is analyzed by employing the endogenous switching model. This study finds that migration behavior has a significant positive effect on immigrants’ early career wage development in Canada. Both migration and labor force participation selection bias are found to significantly affect the wages of immigrants and native-born. The second essay entitled “Immigrant and Canadian-born Family Migration and the Labor Supply Consequences of Women and Men” investigates the family migration behavior of immigrants and Canadian-born and the consequences of labor supply for men and women. Even though immigrant families (in which both spouses are immigrants) have the lowest average migration rate compared with native families (in which both spouses are native-born) and mixed families (in which one spouse is immigrant and one spouse is native-born), the regression results show that immigrant families are not significantly less mobile than the other two family types alter controlling for characteristics differences. The empirical results from the hours change model suggest that internal migration has a positive and significant effect on labor supply of men and native women. The third essay entitled “Migration and Job Search: Evidence from Canada” examines the association between migration and unemployment exit rate that has not previously been examined in the Canadian literature. By employing job search and human capital theories, this study investigates the search strategies of unemployed workers. Independent competing risks framework is used to examine the transition from unemployment to employment under different search strategies. Semi-parametric stratified Cox proportional hazard model and parametric log-logistic model are applied. The results indicate that individual and family characteristics have a stronger effect on the transition rates than other factors like labor market conditions and previous-job-related characteristics do. There is evidence that current EI program affects search strategy of unemployed individuals.

Abstract (French)

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