Abstract
This study asks whether recent immigrants and Canadian‐born youth have become increasingly overeducated for their jobs because of changes in the supply of university‐educated workers and demand for their human capital. Based on analyses of four Canadian censuses, the study found that over the 2001–2016 period, only about one‐half of the growth in the supply of university‐educated workers was matched with growth in jobs that required a university degree. Recent immigrants bore most of the brunt of this structural imbalance, becoming more concentrated in low‐ and medium‐skill jobs. In comparison, the prevalence of education‐occupation match of young Canadian‐born workers increased over this period. Consequently, the gap in overeducation between these population groups has widened. To address this gap, immigration policy should use a tandem process that selects immigrants based on human capital and demand‐driven criteria.