Employing human capital: a comparative analysis of migrant overqualification in Italy and Canada

Overqualification is one of the indicators used to assess migrant integration into the social fabrics and the labor market of contemporary host societies. This study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of overqualification among immigrant populations and their descendants, understood as the mismatch between educational qualifications and occupational skill requirements. Focusing on Italy and Canada as countries of studies, it explores the factors contributing to its perpetuation among these groups, considering not only the economic dynamics and labor market performances but also the broader structural factors concerning the destination countries. These significantly divergent approaches result in distinct compositions of immigrants, particularly in terms of educational levels. The emphasis is on the Italian and Canadian divergent historical immigration backgrounds and approaches on immigration policies, especially considering labor migration. Through a comparative analysis of these two destination countries, this research sheds light on the higher overqualification rate among foreign skilled workers and their children compared to equally skilled native-workers. The study finds that the low share of tertiary educated workers in the Italian workforce, results in a reduced probability of overqualification for both native and migrant workers in Italy. In contrast, Canada's highly educated workforce contributes to high overqualification rates among both native and immigrant groups, as there is a mismatch between the supply and demand of highly educated workers. Moreover, it sees that Italy's less selective immigration policies lead to a larger disparity between the overqualification rates of foreign-born and native workers, with tertiary educated migrants experiencing higher rates of overqualification. Canada exhibits a narrower gap between the overqualification rates of skilled immigrants and native workers, suggesting that its immigration policies may contribute to a more balanced distribution of human capital in the labor market.