The Earnings of Asian Male Immigrants in the Canadian Labor Market

The earnings of Asian-born immigrants in the Canadian labor market declined relative to the earnings of native-born workers between 1981 and 1986. Analysis of the labor market performance of immigrants from four regions of Asia-Southern Asia, South East Asia, Eastern Asia and Western Asia-shows that Asian immigrants are a heterogeneous group. However, changes in the birthplace composition of Asian immigrants cannot explain the fall in the relative earnings of the Asian aggregate. Attention is drawn to the switch in the distribution of immigrants across the admission classes as a possible explanation of this phenomenon.