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Assimilation via Prices or Quantities? Labor Market Institutions and Immigrant Earnings Growth in Australia, Canada, and the United States

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Author Info
Antecol, Heather (Claremont McKenna College)
Kuhn, Peter (University of California at Santa Barbara and IZA Bonn)
Trejo, Stephen J. () (University of Texas at Austin and IZA Bonn)

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Abstract

How do international differences in labor market institutions affect the nature of immigrant earnings assimilation? Using 1980/81 and 1990/91 cross-sections of census data from Australia, Canada, and the United States, we estimate the separate effects of arrival cohort and duration of destination-country residence on immigrant outcomes in each country. Relatively inflexible wages and generous unemployment insurance in Australia suggest that immigrants there might improve themselves primarily through employment gains rather than wage growth, and we find empirically that employment gains explain all of the labor market progress experienced by Australian immigrants. Wages are less rigid in Canada and the United States than in Australia, with the general consensus that the U.S. labor market is the most flexible of the three. We find that wage assimilation is an important source of immigrant earnings growth in both Canada and the United States, but the magnitude of wage assimilation is substantially larger in the United States. These same general patterns remain when we replicate our analyses for two subsamples of immigrants – Europeans and Asians – that are more homogeneous in national origins yet still provide sufficiently large sample sizes for each country.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 802.

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Length: 48 pages
Date of creation: Jun 2003
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp802

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Related research
Keywords: immigrant assimilation; labor market flexibility;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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. Antecol, Heather & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Trejo, Stephen, 2001. "Immigration Policy and the Skills of Immigrants to Australia, Canada, and the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 363, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Linda A. Bell & Richard B. Freeman, 2000. "The Incentive for Working Hard: Explaining Hours Worked Differences in the U.S. and Germany," NBER Working Papers 8051, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Chiswick, Barry R. & Miller, Paul W., 1994. "The determinants of post-immigration investments in education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 163-177, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Barry R. Chiswick & Yinon Cohen & Tzippi Zach, 1997. "The labor market status of immigrants: Effects of the unemployment rate at arrival and duration of residence," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 50(2), pages 289-303, January.
  5. Blau, Francine D & Kahn, Lawrence M, 1996. "International Differences in Male Wage Inequality: Institutions versus Market Forces," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(4), pages 791-836, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Husted, Leif & Nielsen, Helena Skyt & Rosholm, Michael & Smith, Nina, 2000. "Employment and Wage Assimilation of Male First Generation Immigrants in Denmark," IZA Discussion Papers 101, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  7. 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)
  8. Baker, Michael & Benjamin, Dwayne, 1994. "The Performance of Immigrants in the Canadian Labor Market," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(3), pages 369-405, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Bertola, Giuseppe & Rogerson, Richard, 1997. "Institutions and labor reallocation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 1147-1171, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. John M. Abowd & Francis Kramarz & Thomas Lemieux & David N. Margolis, 1997. "Minimum Wages and Youth Employment in France and the United States," NBER Working Papers 6111, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Julian R. Betts & Magnus Lofstrom, 2000. "The Educational Attainment of Immigrants: Trends and Implications," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in the Economics of Immigration, pages 51-116 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Harris, John R & Todaro, Michael P, 1970. "Migration, Unemployment & Development: A Two-Sector Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 126-42, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. George J. Borjas, 1993. "Immigration Policy, National Origin, and Immigrant Skills: A Comparison of Canada and the United States," NBER Chapters, in: Small Differences That Matter: Labor Markets and Income Maintenance in Canada and the United States, pages 21-44 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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  14. 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)
  15. Moene, Karl Ove & Wallerstein, Michael, 1997. "Pay Inequality," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(3), pages 403-30, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Edward Funkhouser, 2000. "Convergence in Employment Rates of Immigrants," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in the Economics of Immigration, pages 143-184 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  17. James Ted McDonald & Christopher Worswick, 1997. "Unemployment Incidence of Immigrant Men in Canada," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 23(4), pages 353-373, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Joshua D. Angrist & Adriana D. Kugler, 2003. "Protective or counter-productive? labour market institutions and the effect of immigration on eu natives," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(488), pages F302-F331, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  19. Darren Lubotsky, 2001. "The Effect of Changes in the U.S. Wage Structure on Recent Immigrants' Earnings," Labor and Demography 0110003, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    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. Aydemir, Abdurrahman & Skuterud, Mikal, 2004. "Explication de la détérioration des gains au niveau d'entrée des cohortes d'immigrants au Canada, 1966-2000," Direction des études analytiques : documents de recherche 2004225f, Statistics Canada, Direction des études analytiques. [Downloadable!]
  2. Aydemir, Abdurrahman & Skuterud, Mikal, 2004. "Explaining the Deteriorating Entry Earnings of Canada's Immigrant Cohorts: 1966-2000," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2004225e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Ken Clark & Joanne Lindley, 2006. "Immigrant Labour Market Assimilation and Arrival Effects: Evidence from the UK Labour Force Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 2228, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  4. David A. Green & Christopher Worswick, 2004. "Immigrant earnings profiles in the presence of human capital investment: measuring cohort and macro effects," IFS Working Papers W04/13, Institute for Fiscal Studies. [Downloadable!]
  5. Ken Clark & Joanne Kathryn Lindley, 2005. "Immigrant Labour Market Assimilation and Arrival Effects: Evidence from the Labour Force Survey," Working Papers 2005004, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2005. [Downloadable!]
  6. Jonathan Wadsworth & Augustin de Coulon, 2008. "On the Relative Gains to Immigration: A Comparison of the Labour Market Position of Indians in the USA, the UK and India," CEP Discussion Papers dp0851, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  7. Heather Antecol & Kelly Bedard, 2005. "Unhealthy Assimilation: Why Do Immigrants Converge to American Health Status Levels?," IZA Discussion Papers 1654, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  8. Abdurrahman Aydemir & Mikal Skuterud, 2004. "Explaining the Deteriorating Entry Earnings of Canada’s Immigrant," Labor and Demography 0409006, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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