title: Occupational Skills and Labour Market Progression of Married Immigrant Women in Canada.
abstract: We use the confidential files of the 1991-2006 Canadian Census, combined with information from O*NET on the skill requirements of jobs, to explore whether immigrant women behave as secondary workers, remaining marginally attached to the labour market and experiencing little career progression over time. Our results show that the current labour market patterns of female immigrants to Canada do not fit this profile, as previous studies found, but rather conform to patterns recently exhibited by married native women elsewhere, with rising participation and wage progression. At best, only relatively uneducated immigrant women in unskilled occupations may fit the profile of secondary workers, with slow skill mobility and low-status job-traps. Educated immigrant women, on the other hand, experience skill assimilation over time: a reduction in physical strength and an increase in analytical skills required in their jobs relative to those of natives.
authors.affiliation: Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, 347 Wallace Hall, Princeton NJ 08544.
authors.forename: Alícia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adserà
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue, Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3G1, aferrer@uwaterloo.ca.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferrer
keywords: Canadian migration; family investment hypothesis; female labour force participation; labour market outcomes of immigrant women; skill assimilation; wage gaps