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The contribution of immigration to local labor market adjustment

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  • Michael Amior

Abstract

The US suffers from persistent local disparities in employment rates, which should in principle be eliminated by population mobility. Can immigration accelerate this process? Remarkably, on average since 1960, new immigrants account for 40% of local population adjustment. This vastly exceeds their share of gross regional migratory flows (just 10%). I attribute the 'excess' response to their strong preference to settle in migrant enclaves, which are disproportionately located in high-employment areas (a consequence of persistent local shocks). However, immigration does not significantly accelerate local population adjustment overall, as it crowds out the contribution from internal mobility. This reduction in the internal response can help account for the concurrent decline in gross internal population flows.

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  • Michael Amior, 2020. "The contribution of immigration to local labor market adjustment," CEP Discussion Papers dp1678, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1678
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    4. Michal Burzynski & Giovanni Peri, 2024. "Natives Sorting and the Impact of Immigration on European Labor Markets," LISER Working Paper Series 2024-09, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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