Working Paper No 159

Immigrant Labour Market Success : An Analysis of the Index of Labour Market Status

Laurence Lester

This paper provides the results of econometric examination of the causes of labour market outcome for immigrants to Australia. In this study, an index of labour market success (see WP 156 for details) is used to measure labour market success, in contrast to the more usual dichotomous employed-unemployed analysis. Both pooled and panel data methods are reported—for analysis of immigrants in sub-samples comprised of primary applicant and migrating unit for males and females. Because labour market success is measured on a continuous scale it is possible to confirm the importance of a number of immigrant attributes in explaining labour outcomes, but it is also possible to show that some attributes that contribute to success if employed have a detrimental impact for unemployed immigrants.

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