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Are Refugees Different from Economic Immigrants? Some Empirical Evidence on the Heterogeneity of Immigrant Groups in the United States

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Author Info
Cortes, Kalena E. () (Princeton University and IZA Bonn)
Abstract

This paper analyzes how the implicit difference in time horizons between refugees and economic immigrants affects subsequent human capital investments and wage assimilation. The analysis uses the 1980/1990 Integrated Public Use Samples of the Census to study labor market outcomes of immigrants who arrived in the U.S. from 1975 to 1980. I find that in 1980 refugee immigrants in this cohort earned 6 percent less and worked 14 percent fewer hours than economic immigrants. Both had about the same level of English skills. The two immigrant groups had made substantial gains by 1990; however, refugees had made greater gains. In fact, the labor market outcomes of refugee immigrants surpassed those of economic immigrants. In 1990, refugees from the 1975-1980 arrival cohort earned 20 percent more, worked 4 percent more hours, and improved their English skills by 11 percent relative to economic immigrants. The higher rates of human capital accumulation for refugee immigrants contribute to these findings.

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 1063.

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Length: 45 pages
Date of creation: Mar 2004
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1063

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Related research
Keywords: refugee and economic immigrants; human capital investment; wage growth;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Microeconomic Data
F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn & Joan Y. Moriarty & Andre Portela Souza, 2003. "The Role of the Family in Immigrants' Labor-Market Activity: An Evaluation of Alternative Explanations: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 429-447, March. [Downloadable!]
  2. Baker, Michael & Benjamin, Dwayne, 1997. "The Role of the Family in Immigrants' Labor-Market Activity: An Evaluation of Alternative Explanations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(4), pages 705-27, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Shields, M A & Price, Wheatley, 2001. "Language Fluency and Immigrant Employment Prospects: Evidence from Britain's Ethnic Minorities," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 8(11), pages 741-45, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Harriet Orcutt Duleep & Mark C. Regets, 1999. "Immigrants and Human-Capital Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 186-191, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Chiswick, Barry R, 1978. "The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 897-921, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Chiswick, Barry R, 1991. "Speaking, Reading, and Earnings among Low-Skilled Immigrants," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(2), pages 149-70, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Borjas, George J, 1985. "Assimilation, Changes in Cohort Quality, and the Earnings of Immigrants," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(4), pages 463-89, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Dustmann, Christian, 1999. " Temporary Migration, Human Capital, and Language Fluency of Migrants," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 101(2), pages 297-314, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Borjas, George J & Bratsberg, Bernt, 1996. "Who Leaves? The Outmigration of the Foreign-Born," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(1), pages 165-76, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Barry R. Chiswick, 1998. "Hebrew language usage: Determinants and effects on earnings among immigrants in Israel," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 253-271. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Dustmann, Christian, 2000. "Temporary Migration and Economic Assimilation," IZA Discussion Papers 186, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  12. Khan, Aliya Hashmi, 1997. "Post-migration investment in education by immigrants in the United States," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(Supplemen), pages 285-313. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Dustmann, Christian, 1997. "Differences in the labor market behavior between temporary and permanent migrant women," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 29-46, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Galor, Oded & Stark, Oded, 1991. "The probability of return migration, migrants' work effort, and migrants' performance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 399-405, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Stewart, James B & Hyclak, Thomas, 1984. "An Analysis of the Earnings Profiles of Immigrants," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 66(2), pages 292-96, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Geoffrey Carliner, 1995. "The Language Ability of U.S. Immigrants: Assimilation and Cohort Effects," NBER Working Papers 5222, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  18. Geoffrey Carliner, 1996. "The Wages and Language Skills of U.S. Immigrants," NBER Working Papers 5763, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Dustmann, Christian & van Soest, Arthur, 1998. "Language and the Earnings of Immigrants," CEPR Discussion Papers 2012, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Rivera-Batiz, Francisco L., 1990. "English language proficiency and the economic progress of immigrants," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 295-300, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Galor, Oded & Stark, Oded, 1990. "Migrants' Savings, the Probability of Return Migration and Migrants' Performance," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 31(2), pages 463-67, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Borjas, George J, 1987. "Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(4), pages 531-53, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  23. Carliner, Geoffrey, 1980. "Wages, Earnings and Hours of First, Second, and Third Generation American Males," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 87-102, January.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Anh Tram Le & Paul W. Miller & Barry R. Chiswick, 2006. "The Immigrant-Native Born Earnings Gap in the US: a Quantile Regression Analysis and International Comparison," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 06-04, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Christian Dustmann, 2007. "Return Migration, Investment in Children, and Intergenerational Mobility: Comparing Sons of Foreign and Native Born Fathers," IZA Discussion Papers 3080, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Clemens, Michael A. & Montenegro, Claudio E. & Pritchett, Lant, 2008. "The place premium : wage differences for identical workers across the US border," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4671, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Barry R. Chiswick & Anh T. Le & Paul W. Miller, 2006. "How Immigrants Fare Across the Earnings Distribution: International Analyses," IZA Discussion Papers 2405, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  5. Paul W. Miller & Barry R. Chiswick, 2006. "Why is the Payoff to Schooling Smaller for Immigrants?," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 06-03, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Barry R. Chiswick & Paul W. Miller, 2007. "The Critical Period Hypothesis for Language Learning: What the 2000 US Census Says," IZA Discussion Papers 2575, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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