Will They Ever Converge? Earnings of Immigrants and Canadian-born Workers Over the Last Two Decades

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Abstract
Using census data covering the 1980 to 2000 period, we examine what outcomes would be necessary for cohorts of recent immigrants to achieve earnings parity with Canadian-born workers. Our results show that today's recent immigrants would have to experience a drastic rise of their relative age-earnings profile in the near future for their earnings to converge with their Canadian-born counterparts. The reason is simple: the greater relative earnings growth experienced by cohorts of recent immigrants has only partially offset the drastic deterioration in their relative earnings at entry.