Global labour markets, return, and onward migration

Abstract

Recent immigration appears to be characterized by frequent return and onward migration. This has important consequences for the contribution of immigrants to the economy of the host country. Lack of longitudinal data has prevented much analysis of whether recent international migration is more like internal migration and not a once-for-all move with a possible return should the move prove to have been a mistake. A newly available longitudinal data set covering all immigrants to Canada since 1980 provides the opportunity to address the issues raised by the new migration. The results show that a large fraction of male immigrants who are working age, especially among skilled workers and entrepreneurs, are highly internationally mobile.

Immigration: What About the Children and Grandchildren?

“…Moreover, the calculus is not as straightforward as it might first appear. Aydemir and Robinson (2008) illustrate that the rate of immigrant departures (onward and return migration) from Canada varies dramatically across immigration classes. Refugees are most likely to stay in the receiving country, economic/business immigrants most likely to depart, with family class immigrants in between -this clearly has important implications for the second generation.…”

Migration and Education

“…14 As we will see later, this particular migration pattern has important implications for an immigrant's 13 The OECD also provides corresponding re-emigration rates for Ireland (60.4 percent), Belgium (50.4 percent) and Norway (39.6 percent). Additional studies that estimate comparable 5 year re-emigration rates are Borjas and Bratsberg (1996) for the U.S. (17.5 percent), Bijwaard (2004) for the Netherlands (35 percent), Shortland (2006) for New Zealand (23 percent), Dustmann and Weiss (2007) for the UK (40 percent males, 55 percent females), Bratsberg et al (2007) for Norway (50 percent), Jensen and Pedersen (2007) for Denmark (55 percent), and Aydemir and Robinson (2008) for Canada (23.7 percent, males).…”

Source country characteristics and immigrants’ optimal migration duration decision

“…For instance, while about 800,000 migrants entered Germany on average annually between 1962 and 2005, more than 560,000 left (German Federal Statistics Office); Jasso and Rosenzweig (1982) report that of the 1971 cohort of immigrants in the U.S., the fraction that returned by 1979 could be as high as fifty percent; Aydemir and Robinson (2008) calculate an out-migration rate of 35 percent by 20 years of residence for working-age male immigrants in Canada.…”