Are Asian migrants discriminated against in the labor market? A case study of Australia

This paper explores the issue of discrimination against Asian migrants relative to their non-Asian counterparts in the Australian labour market. A unique and consistent data set from three waves of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia (LSIA, 1993-95) is used to estimate probit models of the probability of being unemployed separately for males and females of Asian and non-Asian origins. The unemployment probability gap between the two migrant groups is decomposed into two components, the first associated with differences in their human capital and other demographic characteristics, and the second with differences in their impacts (called discrimination). The results provide an evidence of discrimination against Asian male migrants in all three waves. Discrimination against Asian females is detected only in the first wave. The Asian females who are professionals and can speak English 'well' are rather favoured relative to their non-Asian counterparts. Thus, the empirical evidence on discrimination against migrants of Asian origin is mixed.