Relative Labour Market Performance of Former International Students: Evidence from the National Graduates Survey

Canada is increasingly looking to international students as a source of post-secondary tuition revenues and new immigrants. We compare the labour market performance of former international students (FISs) through the first decade of the 2000s with that of their Canadian-born and -educated (CBE) and foreign-born and -educated (FBE) counterparts. We find that FISs outperform FBE immigrants by a substantial margin but underperform CBE graduates from similar post-secondary programs. We also find evidence of a deterioration in FIS outcomes relative to both comparison groups. We argue that this deterioration is most consistent with a quality trade-off because the supply of international students has not kept pace with the growth in demand.