Education and Labour Market Outcomes of Children of Immigrants - Evidence from Australia

Abstract

Australia is distinguished by the high proportion of migrants and what is generally regarded as a successful immigration program. This thesis compares the post-school choices and outcomes of a set of first- and second- generation Australian immigrants to their native counterparts. We explore two dimensions of commonly measured socioeconomic outcomes, namely educational and labour market success for young individuals. Utilising information from Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) data, labour market and education outcomes of two sets of young Australians born in 1993-1994 and 1978-1982 are considered. Differences exist in the education and employment outcomes among the first- and second-generation immigrant groups at the first and fifth year after school. Overall analysis suggests that the behaviour and outcomes of young Australians are closely related to the ethnic background of parents. The post-high school paths are associated with parental and own attitudes including the explicit expectation on work or study, educational investments, and learning effort. Second-generation immigrants are found to experience a different post-school path than their native counterparts but achieve similar education attainment and hourly wage rates five years after secondary schooling is completed. Findings in this thesis corroborate the role of immigrant optimism and immigrant background; and imply that the experiences of children of immigrants in Australia are consistent with the modern straight-line assimilation theory.