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Abstract
This paper builds on the earlier work by Rafiand Lewis (2014) and analyses the employment and occupational outcomes of Indian born male migrants relative to other male cohorts in Australia. The findings indicate that the employment outcomes for Indian born males are similar to that of Australian males and foreign born males from both English speaking and non-English speaking backgrounds. However, as measured by hours worked per week, Indian born male migrants do have a lower engagement with the labour market. The results also indicate that tertiary qualifications make a very modest contribution to increasing the likelihood of an individual being employed. Analysis of the sample data also illustrates that Indian born male migrants in the Australian labour market are correctly matched with occupations relative to their formal training. Taken together with the migrant earnings results presented in Rafiand Lewis (2014) this indicates that while Indian born males do not face difficulty in finding suitable employment, they are still not as successful at generating higher returns to their tertiary education relative to the other male cohorts.
Keywords: Indian migrants, Labour market outcomes, Skilled occupation, Australia
JEL classification: J15, J24, J61
(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)
1. Introduction
As a net importer of labour, Australia relies on immigrants, particularly skilled immigrants to maintain its economic momentum. Australia's skilled migration program has attracted skilled overseas migrants and has offered incentives and expedited processing of applicants, especially former international students who possessed skills and locally obtained qualifications that were deemed desirable for the Australian economy. Over the years the composition of Australia's migrant intake has also shifted from migrants originating from English-speaking developed nations to migrants from Non-English backgrounds originating from developing countries, especially in Asia (Antecol, Cobb-Clark and Trejo, 2003)
In the last few years concerns have been raised about the efficacy of Australia's skilled migration program and the labour market outcomes (in terms of earnings and employment) and integration of skilled Indian migrants in the Australian economy. Baas (2007); Birrell and Healy (2008, 2010) and McCann (2010) offer an overview of this debate. The cited authors highlighted the link between the tertiary sector in Australia and Australia's migration policies, and also voiced concern about the skillset of recent Indian graduates and migrants in...