Basic Information and Communication Technology Skills among Canadian Immigrants and Non-Immigrants

Male immigrants are disproportionately employed in information and communication technology (ICT) industries and occupations in Canada. The authors use a measure of basic ICT skills to document differences in skill levels, and those skills’ relationship with labour market earnings, across immigration classes and categories of Canadians at birth. Adult immigrants, including those assessed by Canada’s points system, have lower average ICT scores than Canadians at birth, although the rate of return to ICT skills is not statistically different between them. Immigrants who arrive as children and the Canadian-born children of immigrants have similar outcomes as the Canadian-born children of Canadian-born parents.