Using a growth model analysis of Canada's Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to
Canada (LSIC), we establish a significant relationship between application
status — i.e., the distinction in immigration policy between primary and
secondary migrants — and individual wages. This relationship is associated with
an earnings disadvantage for secondary migrants, who are disproportionately
female. The disadvantage persists over time, even when individual human capital
and personal characteristics, household context, and pre-existing differences in
the relative employability of spouses are taken into account. We outline some
possible explanations for this effect, as well as implications for immigration
policy makers.
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