IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v630y2010i1p196-204.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing Human Capital Transferability into the U.S. Labor Market among Latino Immigrants to the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Nadia Y. Flores

    (Texas A&M University)

Abstract

Scholars have questioned whether international migrants from Latin America are able to transfer their levels of education into the U.S. labor market. In this article, the author examines the data from the Latin American Migration Project for Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua to observe the ability of each of the immigrant groups to convert prior education into occupational attainments within the U.S. labor market. Results show intercountry differences in the ability of the immigrants to translate educational attainments into occupational outcomes. Nicaraguans are by far the most educated and are much better able to translate home country schooling into highly skilled U.S. occupations. However, findings reveal that Nicaraguans have received more of an occupational benefit from having legal documents. The author argues that in addition to divergent patterns of educational selectivity, the contrasting treatment of Nicaraguans and Mexicans by U.S. immigration law seems to be responsible, at least in part, for their very different positions in the U.S. labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Nadia Y. Flores, 2010. "Assessing Human Capital Transferability into the U.S. Labor Market among Latino Immigrants to the United States," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 630(1), pages 196-204, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:630:y:2010:i:1:p:196-204
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716210368110
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716210368110
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0002716210368110?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gene Laber, 1973. "Human Capital in Southern Migration," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(2), pages 223-241.
    2. George J. Borjas, 2021. "The Economic Benefits from Immigration," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 13, pages 411-430, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. George J. Borjas, 1994. "The Economics of Immigration," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1667-1717, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ottaviano, Gianmarco & Peri, Giovanni, 2008. "Immigration and National Wages: Clarifying the Theory and the Empirics," CEPR Discussion Papers 6916, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr & William F. Lincoln, 2015. "Skilled Immigration and the Employment Structures of US Firms," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(S1), pages 147-186.
    3. Gil Epstein & Shmuel Nitzan, 2006. "The struggle over migration policy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 19(4), pages 703-723, October.
    4. Jellal, Mohamed, 2014. "Diaspora et comportement économique en incertitude [Diaspora and economic behavior under uncertainty]," MPRA Paper 57236, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Gabriel J Felbermayr & Wilhelm Kohler, 2014. "Immigration and Native Welfare," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: European Economic Integration, WTO Membership, Immigration and Offshoring, chapter 10, pages 335-372, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Boris Podobnik & Marko Jusup & Dejan Kovac & H. E. Stanley, 2017. "Predicting the Rise of EU Right-Wing Populism in Response to Unbalanced Immigration," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2017, pages 1-12, August.
    7. Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano & Giovanni Peri, 2021. "Rethinking The Effect Of Immigration On Wages," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Firms and Workers in a Globalized World Larger Markets, Tougher Competition, chapter 9, pages 245-290, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Milo Bianchi & Paolo Buonanno & Paolo Pinotti, 2012. "Do Immigrants Cause Crime?," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(6), pages 1318-1347, December.
    9. Eric Crettaz, 2011. "Why Are Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities more Affected by Working Poverty? Theoretical Framework and Empirical Evidence Across Welfare Regimes," LIS Working papers 564, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    10. Mohammadi, Ali & Broström, Anders & Franzoni, Chiara, 2015. "Work Force Composition and Innovation: How Diversity in Employees’ Ethnical and Disciplinary Backgrounds Facilitates Knowledge Re-combination," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 413, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    11. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Viola von Berlepsch, 2012. "When migrants rule: the legacy of mass migration on economic development in the US," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1216, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2012.
    12. Chunbei Wang & Le Wang, 2011. "Language Skills and the Earnings Distribution Among Child Immigrants," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 297-322, April.
    13. Magris, Francesco & Russo, Giuseppe, 2016. "Fiscal Revenues and Commitment in Immigration Amnesties," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 75-90.
    14. Matt Ruther & Rebbeca Tesfai & Janice Madden, 2018. "Foreign-born population concentration and neighbourhood growth and development within US metropolitan areas," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(4), pages 826-843, March.
    15. Jahn, Vera & Steinhardt, Max Friedrich, 2018. "Immigration and new firm formation: Evidence from a quasi-experimental setting in Germany," Ruhr Economic Papers 787, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    16. Lewis, Ethan & Peri, Giovanni, 2015. "Immigration and the Economy of Cities and Regions," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 625-685, Elsevier.
    17. Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano & Giovanni Peri, 2005. "Rethinking the Gains from Immigration: Theory and Evidence from the U.S," NBER Working Papers 11672, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Williamson, Jeffrey G, 1997. "Globalization and Inequality, Past and Present," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 12(2), pages 117-135, August.
    19. Riillo, Cesare Fabio Antonio & Peroni, Chiara, 2022. "Immigration and entrepreneurship in Europe: cross-country evidence," MPRA Paper 114580, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Pulido, José & Varón, Alejandra, 2024. "Misallocation of the immigrant workforce: Aggregate productivity effects for the host country," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:630:y:2010:i:1:p:196-204. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.