Immigration Announcement
International Students Now Make Up 26% of Canadian Postsecondary Graduates
Statistics Canada’s latest release of postsecondary graduate labour market data shows that international students represented 26% of all postsecondary graduates in 2021, a dramatic rise from just 7% in 2010. The updated dataset tracks graduate earnings outcomes across 13 cohorts from 2010 to 2022, links educational records to tax data, and for the first time includes breakdowns by Indigenous identity and visible minority groups. Among international graduates, 81% could be linked to tax records two years after graduation in 2021, up sharply from 48% in the 2010 cohort.
What Is This Data and Why Does It Matter?
Every year, Statistics Canada tracks what happens to college and university graduates after they leave school. It does this by linking data from the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS), which captures graduation records from Canadian public institutions with income tax records that reveal actual earnings and employment outcomes.
The result is one of the most comprehensive pictures of graduate outcomes anywhere in the world. It allows researchers, policymakers, and prospective students to see how different credential levels, fields of study, provinces, and student backgrounds translate into labour market outcomes, in real numbers, not estimates.
The 2026 release, the most recent update, adds data from the 2022 graduating cohort and introduces two significant expansions: new tables tracking earnings outcomes by Indigenous identity and by visible minority group. These additions represent a meaningful step toward understanding equity gaps in Canadian education and labour markets.
All earnings figures are reported in 2024 constant dollars, making comparisons across the 13 graduating cohorts possible without inflation distortions.
The Rise of International Students in Canadian Education
The numbers are striking. In 2010, international students made up just 7% of Canadian postsecondary graduates. By 2021, that share had grown to 26%, nearly one in four of all graduates. This shift reflects a combination of factors: Canada’s active recruitment of international students, its reputation for high-quality post-secondary education, and immigration policies that made studying in Canada an attractive pathway to potential permanent residency.
The data integration quality also improved significantly over this period. In 2010, only 48% of international student graduate records could be linked to tax data two years after graduation, meaning tracking their labour market outcomes was difficult. By 2019, that rate rose to 81% for the 2021 cohort. This improvement matters because it means the data now paints a much more accurate picture of what international graduates actually earn and do after finishing their studies.
For immigration purposes, this data is highly relevant. Many international students in Canada are on a pathway toward permanent residency through the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) and eventually Express Entry or Provincial Nominee Programs. Understanding labour market outcomes by credential type, field of study, and student status helps inform those decisions.
How Are Graduate Earnings Tracked?
The methodology behind this data is worth understanding, particularly for anyone using it to make educational or immigration decisions. Statistics Canada links PSIS graduation records with two tax data sources: the T1 Family File (T1FF) for years 2011 to 2015, and the Administrative Personal Income Masterfile (APIM) for 2016 to 2024. Together, these sources capture employment income, wages, salaries, commissions, and self-employment for graduates who file Canadian income taxes.
Graduates are excluded from earnings calculations if they returned to school full-time after graduation (as their earnings profile differs substantially from those who entered the workforce directly). Graduates reporting $0 employment income in the cross-sectional analysis are also excluded, on the reasonable assumption that they were not in the labour market that year.
Two types of analysis are used: cross-sectional (tracking earnings at a specific point after graduation, like two, five, or ten years out) and longitudinal (tracking the same set of graduates across multiple years). These two approaches produce different underlying populations and should not be directly compared an important caveat when interpreting the data.
What’s New in the 2026 Release: Indigenous and Visible Minority Data?
One of the most significant additions to this year’s release is the inclusion of median employment income breakdowns by Indigenous identity and visible minority group for the first time.
These new tables cover Canadian students (citizens and permanent residents) who graduated from 2010 to 2022, looking at earnings two years after graduation by field of study. The data was produced by linking PSIS graduation records with the 2016 and 2021 Census long-form questionnaire data. This is a meaningful development for equity analysis.
For decades, there has been broad recognition that credential outcomes are not uniform across demographic groups that a degree from the same institution in the same field can lead to different earnings depending on a graduate’s background. Now, for the first time, Statistics Canada is making that variation visible in a systematic, national dataset. This data will be important for understanding whether disparities in earnings outcomes for Indigenous graduates and racialized Canadians persist even after controlling for field of study and credential level and where policy intervention may be needed.
What Does This Mean for International Students and Immigration?
For international students, this data carries practical implications. The sharp rise in international graduates from 7% to 26% of all postsecondary graduates occurred during a period when Canada was actively using international study as a soft immigration feeder. The PGWP allowed graduates to work in Canada after completing their studies, and Express Entry gave them a pathway to permanent residency based on Canadian work experience under the Canadian Experience Class.
Recent policy changes have shifted this landscape. Canada has imposed new caps on international student study permits and has tightened PGWP eligibility in certain program areas. Understanding how these changes interact with labour market outcomes is increasingly important for prospective international students making decisions about where to study.
The improving tax-data linkage rates for international graduates (from 48% to 81%) also suggest that more international graduates are remaining in Canada and filing taxes after graduation than in previous years — a sign that this pathway has been meaningful for many.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What percentage of Canadian postsecondary graduates are international students?
A: As of the 2021 graduating cohort, international students made up 26% of Canadian postsecondary graduates. In 2010, they represented just 7%.
Q: What does this Statistics Canada data measure?
A: It tracks median employment income for postsecondary graduates at two, five, and ten years after graduation. It links graduation records from the Postsecondary Student Information System with income tax data to measure actual earnings, broken down by credential type, field of study, province, gender, age group, and student status.
Q: What is new in the 2026 Statistics Canada graduate data release?
A: For the first time, the 2026 release includes earnings data broken down by Indigenous identity and visible minority group adding four new tables to the annual release.
Q: Are international student earnings tracked in this data?
A: Yes. The data includes separate tracking for international students, and integration of their records with tax data has improved significantly from 48% for the 2010 cohort to 81% for the 2021 cohort.
Q: Can I use this data to decide what to study in Canada?
A: This data is a useful reference for understanding how different credentials and fields of study translate into earnings outcomes over time. It is not a prediction of individual outcomes, but it provides a meaningful national benchmark.
Q: Does this data help international students decide whether to stay in Canada after graduation?
A: The data can inform that decision by showing the earnings potential of different credential levels and fields of study. Combined with immigration pathway information such as PGWP eligibility and Express Entry points, it provides a fuller picture of post-study prospects in Canada.
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