Lunch & Learn: A critical examination of the post-graduate work permit program for international graduates’ earnings

Colleagues from Ted Rogers School of Management, Rupa Banerjee, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Economic Inclusion, Employment and Entrepreneurship of Canada’s Immigrants, and Rushde Akbar, Post-doctoral Fellow, will present the results of their recent study assessing the long-term impact of Canada’s work permit program for post graduates.

International students and graduates make up an increasingly crucial part of the Canadian labour force. Due to their prior exposure to Canadian society and the education system, this subgroup is expected to perform better in the labour market relative to immigrants who acquire their education from abroad, and, as a result, many policies have been implemented since 2001 to encourage them to come to Canada. The presenters Rupa and Rushdee ask whether such policies have led to the results for which they were intended. Using the Canadian Employer-Employee Dynamics Dataset (CEEDD), they investigate the earnings trajectories of former international students relative to Canadians and other immigrants. Their analysis provides important learnings about government programs and policies, and their impact on graduate student income trajectories.

 (word file) Read the full abstract here.