Race, Skills, and Earnings: American Immigrants in 1909

On December 5, 1910, the Immigration Commission presented its voluminous report to the Congress. Though the report covered a multitude of topics, a central theme was that the “new†immigrants from southern and eastern Europe were earning less than the “old†immigrants from northwestern Europe because the newcomers were willing to accept a lower standard of living. “They were,†the commission concluded, “content to accept wages and conditions which the native American and immigrants of the older class had come to regard as unsatisfactory.†The discovery of such “unfair competition,†along with its other findings, led the commission to recommend legislation restricting the admission of the “new†immigrant groups, and subsequently the immigration laws of 1917, 1921, and 1924 implemented this recommendation.