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<p>This paper examines how immigrants’ human capital, host-country learning, and entry motives jointly shape occupational trajectories and subjective well-being. Drawing on biennial panel data from Canada’s Longitudinal and International Study of Adults, it develops and tests a conversion framework in which host-country learning—through language proficiency, vocational and academic credentials, and length of residence—transforms foreign human capital into absorptive capacity that influences both occupational choices and well-being outcomes. Results show that foreign general education increases the likelihood of self-employment, reflecting a strategic response to credential devaluation, whereas Canadian education and vocational training favor paid employment, highlighting the value of locally recognized credentials. Absorptive capacity facilitates labor-market adaptation, steering highly educated immigrants toward stable paid employment rather than relying on self-employment as an adaptation strategy. Self-employed immigrants nevertheless report higher well-being than paid employees—especially those entering by opportunity and those with greater absorptive capacity. Overall, the study positions immigrant entrepreneurship as a capability-driven adaptive process shaped by where human capital is acquired, how it is absorbed, and why it is pursued.</p>

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From constraint to capability: occupational adaptation and well-being among immigrants in Canada

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月10日

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  • Hien Thu Tran

摘要

This paper examines how immigrants’ human capital, host-country learning, and entry motives jointly shape occupational trajectories and subjective well-being. Drawing on biennial panel data from Canada’s Longitudinal and International Study of Adults, it develops and tests a conversion framework in which host-country learning—through language proficiency, vocational and academic credentials, and length of residence—transforms foreign human capital into absorptive capacity that influences both occupational choices and well-being outcomes. Results show that foreign general education increases the likelihood of self-employment, reflecting a strategic response to credential devaluation, whereas Canadian education and vocational training favor paid employment, highlighting the value of locally recognized credentials. Absorptive capacity facilitates labor-market adaptation, steering highly educated immigrants toward stable paid employment rather than relying on self-employment as an adaptation strategy. Self-employed immigrants nevertheless report higher well-being than paid employees—especially those entering by opportunity and those with greater absorptive capacity. Overall, the study positions immigrant entrepreneurship as a capability-driven adaptive process shaped by where human capital is acquired, how it is absorbed, and why it is pursued.