Influences on the Migration of Canadian Professionals

The human capital approach has increased our understanding of migration as an act of investment and highlighted the importance of geographical movements by capital-laden professional manpower. This article analyzes some determinants of migration for such personnel and gauges the relative importance of costs and benefits for professional manpower migrating between Canada and the U.S. Determinants of migration, in order of statistical significance, were U.S. education, highest degree, employment mobility, ethnicity, and region of origin. An important conclusion is that sending Canadians to the U.S. for graduate education entails a high risk of nonreturn. The results also cast doubt on the view of Canada as a bridge in the migrational flow from the rest of the world to the U.S.