The Long-term Economic Outcomes of Refugee Private Sponsorship

Canada was the first country to introduce private sponsorship, and the program has played a key role in the country’s responses to international refugee crises over the last four decades. Private sponsorship has been regarded as a promising policy option for other major Western countries in their commitments to refugee resettlement. However, empirical evidence regarding the economic outcomes of refugee private sponsorship is notably limited. To fill this gap, this paper examined the long-term economic outcomes of privately sponsored refugees (PSRs) with various human capital levels in Canada. It addressed two questions. First, how do the economic outcomes of PSRs compare with those of government-assisted refugees (GARs) in the initial resettlement period and over the longer term? Second, do the economic outcomes of PSRs vary by the refugees’ initial levels of human capital (official language skills and education)?