Intergenerational Education Mobility among the Children of Canadian Immigrants

The education outcomes of children born in Canada to immigrants are only weakly associated with the education levels of their parents. The intergenerational association in schooling levels is about three times as strong for the general population. We also find that the intergenerational transmission of education has not changed across the birth cohorts of the post-war period, and that upward mobility of educational attainment is more likely among second-generation Canadians raised by immigrant parents with low education than among Canadians with native-born parents. This overall positive view of mobility across the generations among immigrants is tempered by the fact that some children, particularly boys from certain communities, face significant challenges in making progress.