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Does Immigration Affect Wages? A Look at Occupation-Level Evidence

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Author Info
Pia M. Orrenius () (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas)
Madeline Zavodny () (Agnes Scott College and IZA Bonn)

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Abstract

Previous research has reached mixed conclusions about the effect of higher levels of immigration on 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, we find that an increase in the fraction of foreign-born workers tends to lower the wages of natives in blue collar occupations - particularly after controlling for endogeneity - but does not have a statistically significant negative effect among natives in skilled occupations. The results also indicate that immigrants adjusting their immigration status within the U.S., but not newly arriving immigrants, have a significant negative impact on the wages of low-skilled natives. This suggests that immigrants become closer substitutes for natives as they spend more time in the U.S.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 2481.

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Length: 35 pages
Date of creation: Dec 2006
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2481

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Related research
Keywords: immigrants; natives; wages;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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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. Chiswick, Carmel U. & Chiswick, Barry R. & Karras, Georgios, 1992. "The impact of immigrants on the macroeconomy," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 279-316, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Wei-Yin Hu, 2000. "Immigrant Earnings Assimilation: Estimates from Longitudinal Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 368-372, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Mincer, Jacob, 1978. "Family Migration Decisions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 749-73, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Gordon H. Hanson & Matthew J. Slaughter, 1999. "The Rybczynski Theorem, Factor-Price Equalization, and Immigration: Evidence from U.S. States," NBER Working Papers 7074, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. 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)
  7. Rachel M. Friedberg, 2001. "The Impact Of Mass Migration On The Israeli Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 116(4), pages 1373-1408, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. George J. Borjas, 2001. "Does Immigration Grease the Wheels of the Labor Market?," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 32(2001-1), pages 69-134. [Downloadable!]
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    Other versions:
  13. Friedberg, Rachel M, 2000. "You Can't Take It with You? Immigrant Assimilation and the Portability of Human Capital," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(2), pages 221-51, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Hanson, Gordon H. & Slaughter, Matthew J., 2002. "Labor-market adjustment in open economies: Evidence from US states," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 3-29, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. 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. [Downloadable!]
  16. George J. Borjas, 2003. "The Labor Demand Curve Is Downward Sloping: Reexamining The Impact Of Immigration On The Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 118(4), pages 1335-1374, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. Borjas, George J., 1999. "The economic analysis of immigration," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 28, pages 1697-1760 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Carrington, William J & Detragiache, Enrica & Vishwanath, Tara, 1996. "Migration with Endogenous Moving Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(4), pages 909-30, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
Full references

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. Julie L. Hotchkiss & Myriam Quispe-Agnoli, 2008. "The labor market experience and impact of undocumented workers," Working Paper 2008-07, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. [Downloadable!]
  2. Kahanec, Martin & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2008. "International Migration, Ethnicity and Economic Inequality," IZA Discussion Papers 3450, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  3. Madeline Zavodny, 2003. "The H-1B program and its effects on information technology workers," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, issue Q3, pages 33-43. [Downloadable!]
  4. Lemos, Sara & Portes, Jonathan, 2008. "New Labour? The Impact of Migration from Central and Eastern European Countries on the UK Labour Market," IZA Discussion Papers 3756, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Martin Kahanec & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2008. "Migration, the Quality of the Labour Force and Economic Inequality," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 781, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. David Card, 2007. "How Immigration Affects U.S. Cities," CReAM Discussion Paper Series 0711, Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London. [Downloadable!]
  7. Raquel Carrasco & Juan F. Jimeno & Ana Carolina Ortega, 2008. "The impact of immigration on the wage structure : Spain 1995-2002," Economics Working Papers we080603, Universidad Carlos III, Departamento de Economía. [Downloadable!]
  8. Asadul Islam, 2009. "The substitutability of labor between immigrants and natives in the Canadian labor market: circa 1995," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 199-217, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Bildirici, M. & Orcan, M. & Sunal, S. & Aykaç, E., 2005. "Determinants of Human Capital Theory, Growth and Brain Drain: An Econometric Analysis for 77 Countries," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 5(2). [Downloadable!]
  10. Dew-Becker, Ian & Gordon, Robert J, 2008. "Controversies about the Rise in American Inequality: A Survey," CEPR Discussion Papers 6817, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. Longhi, Simonetta & Nijkamp, Peter & Poot, Jacques, 2008. "Meta-Analysis of Empirical Evidence on the Labour Market Impacts of Immigration," IZA Discussion Papers 3418, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  12. Maude Toussaint-Comeau, 2007. "The impact of Mexican immigrants on U.S. wage structure," Working Paper Series WP-07-24, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. [Downloadable!]
  13. Maude Toussaint-Comeau, 2004. "The occupational assimilation of Hispanics in the U.S.: evidence from panel data," Working Paper Series WP-04-15, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. [Downloadable!]
  14. Ethan Lewis, 2003. "Local, open economies within the U.S.: how do industries respond to immigration?," Working Papers 04-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
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