Overeducation as a determinant of migrating out of a province

Abstract

Inter-provincial migration is an important subject because it shapes the population size, demographic composition, social and cultural characteristics of each province. It not only affects the province of origin but also has economic consequences for the province of destination. This paper focuses on the out-migration aspect and identifies overeducation as one of the causes of this phenomenon. Drawing data from the 2006 Canadian census of population, the study investigates whether or not overeducation leads to an individual moving out of a province. A logistic regression is employed to test the data whilst the ORU framework is used to determine an individual’s overeducation level. The results show that overeducated workers are more likely to move out of a province due to job mismatch than their adequately educated and undereducated counterparts.