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Does immigration affect wages? A look at occupation-level evidence

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  • Pia M. Orrenius
  • Madeline Zavodny

Abstract

Previous research has reached mixed conclusions about whether higher levels of immigration reduce the wages of natives. This paper reexamines this question using data from the Current Population Survey and the Immigration and Naturalization Service and focuses on differential effects by skill level. Using occupation as a proxy for skill, the authors find that an increase in the fraction of workers in an occupation group who are foreign born tends to lower the wages of low-skilled natives-particularly after controlling for endogeneity-but does not have a negative effect among skilled natives.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta in its series Working Paper with number 2003-2.

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Date of creation: 2003
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedawp:2003-2

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Keywords: Immigrants ; Wages ; Employment (Economic theory);

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  25. Myriam Quispe-Agnoli & Madeline Zavodny, 2002. "The effect of immigration on output mix, capital, and productivity," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, issue Q1, pages 17-27.
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  1. Immigration caps: irrational & unimaginative
    by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2008-09-10 08:52:29
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