What type of wage can Canadian students expect in the Canadian labor market from post-secondary foreign education?

Abstract

The rapid increase in the number of international students worldwide is a sign of globalization in the economy. Yet, few Canadians choose to study abroad, even thought the government encourages them to go abroad. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first study to investigate how much of a financial return Canadian students can expect from their foreign post-secondary education and so as to provide Canadian students and government agencies with useful information on the potential benefits of foreign education. Inspired by the Poot and Roskruge (2013)’s study, the Mincer’s equation, using the Public-Use Microdata File of the 2006 Census of Population in Canada was applied. This study finds that there is no significant difference of return between domestic and foreign education in the Canadian labor market for native-born workers. There is a positive return on education from Europe, while education from Eastern Asia has significantly a negative impact on wage earnings in Canada. Further, there is a higher benefit of taking a Doctorate degree from the United States in Canada. These facts will be useful for the government to take some actions to the labor market in order to encourage Canadians to study abroad.