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Substitution between Immigrant and Native Farmworkers in the United States: Does Legal Status Matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Wei Xuan

    (Mid-Florida Research & Education Center, University of Florida, FloridaUnited States)

  • Önel Gülcan

    (Food and Resource Economics Department, University of Florida, FloridaUnited States)

  • Guan Zhengfei

    (Gulf Coast Research & Education Center, University of Florida, FloridaUnited States)

  • Roka Fritz

    (Florida Gulf Coast University, FloridaUnited States)

Abstract

The policy debate surrounding the employment of immigrant workers in U.S. agriculture centers around the extent to which immigrant farmworkers adversely affect the economic opportunities of native farmworkers. To help answer this question, we propose a three-layer nested constant elasticity of substitution (CES) framework to investigate the substitutability among heterogeneous farmworker groups based on age, skill, and legal status utilizing National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) data from 1989 through 2012. We use farmwork experience and type of task performed as alternative proxies for skill to disentangle the substitution effect between U.S. citizens, authorized immigrants, and unauthorized immigrant farmworkers. Results show that substitutability between the three legal status groups is small; neither authorized nor unauthorized immigrant farmworkers have a significant impact on the employment of native farmworkers.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Xuan & Önel Gülcan & Guan Zhengfei & Roka Fritz, 2019. "Substitution between Immigrant and Native Farmworkers in the United States: Does Legal Status Matter?," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 10(1), pages 201-234, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:izajdm:v:10:y:2019:i:1:p:201-234:n:4
    DOI: 10.2478/izajodm-2019-0007
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    Cited by:

    1. Tianyuan Luo & Genti Kostandini, 2022. "Stringent immigration enforcement and responses of the immigrant‐intensive sector: Evidence from E‐Verify adoption in Arizona," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(4), pages 1411-1434, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    elasticity of substitution; immigration; legal status; agricultural labor; nested CES framework;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • J43 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Agricultural Labor Markets
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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