Yew Liang Lee

Longitudinal Analysis of Immigrant Occupational Mobility: A Test of the Immigrant Assimilation Hypothesis

This article develops a model of the occupational mobility of immigrants and tests the hypotheses using data on males from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia, Panel I. The theoretical model generates hypotheses regarding a U-shaped pattern of occupational mobility from the “last job” in the origin, to the “first job” in the destination, to subsequent jobs in the destination, and regarding the depth of the “U.” The survey includes data on pre-immigration occupation, the “first” occupation in Australia (at six months) and the occupation after about three-and-a-half years in Australia. The hypotheses are supported by the empirical analysis.

Immigrant Earnings: A Longitudinal Analysis

This paper uses the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia to analyze the determinants of the level and growth in earnings of adult male immigrants in their first 3.5 years in Australia. The theoretical framework is based on the immigrant adjustment model, which incorporates both the transferability of immigrant skills and selectively in migration. The cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses generate similar findings. The level and relative growth of earnings are higher for immigrants with higher levels of skill and who are economic/skills tested migrants, as distinct from family based and refugee migrants. The analysis indicates that immigrant economic assimilation does occur and that in these data the cross-section provides a good estimate of the longitudinal progress of immigrants. The findings are robust across statistical techniques.

Immigrant Selection Systems and Immigrant Health

This paper is an analysis of the determinants of self-reported health status of immigrants, with a particular focus on type of visa used to gain admission. The concept of “health capital” and an immigrant selection and adjustment model are employed. The empirical analysis uses the three waves of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia (panel I). Immigrant health is greater for immigrants who are younger, more educated, male, more proficient in English, and living outside of an immigrant ethnic enclave. Immigrant health is poorest for refugees and best for independent (economic) migrants, and declines with duration in the destination. There is, therefore, evidence for favorable selectivity on the basis of health status among family and especially independent migrants, as well as a tendency toward “regression to the mean” with duration in the destination.

Patterns of Immigrant Occupational Attainment in a Longitudinal Survey

This paper uses data from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia to examine the empirical relevance of a model of immigrant occupational mobility. Consistent with the model, there is a U-shaped pattern of occupational change from the pre-immigration occupation through to the occupation held after three-and-a-half years in Australia. The U is shallower for immigrants from countries similar to Australia than it is for immigrants from countries that differ more in language, occupational requirements, and labour market structure. The U-shaped pattern is deeper for immigrants who are refugees than for family migrants and is the least deep for economic migrants.

Immigrants' Language Skills and Visa Category

This article is concerned with the determinants of English language proficiency among immigrants in a longitudinal survey for Australia. It focuses on both visa category and variables derived from an economic model of the determinants of destination-language proficiency among immigrants. Skills-tested and economic immigrants have the greatest proficiency shortly after immigration, followed by family-based visa recipients, with refugees having the lowest proficiency. Other variables the same, these differences disappear by 3.5 years after immigration for speaking skills; and although they diminish, they persist longer for reading and writing skills. The variables generated from the model of destination-language proficiency (such as schooling and age at migration) are, in part, predictions of visa category, but they are more important statistically for explaining proficiency.

Wage Effects of Drinking in Australia

This article analyses the wage effects of drinking using the Australian Twin Registry data. A multinomial logit framework is employed to explain the allocation of workers across various drinking states, and to correct for selection bias in the wage equations. It is found that there is a significant positive wage premium for moderate drinking. A favourable family background (during childhood) is positively related to the measure of moderate drinking. Greater genetic endowments are also associated with moderate drinking.