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Earnings and Occupational Attainment: Immigrants and the Native Born

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  • Chiswick, Barry R.

    (George Washington University)

  • Miller, Paul W.

    (Curtin University)

Abstract

This paper examines the determinants of occupational attainment and the impact of occupation on earnings. Results for both the native born and foreign born are presented, and these provide insights as to the earnings penalties associated with the less-than-perfect international transferability of human capital skills. It shows that around 50 percent of the earnings gains associated with years of schooling derives from inter-occupational mobility. When occupation is held constant, there is a large increase in the effect on earnings of pre-immigration labor market experience for the foreign born, but little change in either the payoff to labor market experience for the native born, or in the premium for post-arrival labor market experience for the foreign born. The estimates of the models of occupational attainment show that years of schooling, and, among the foreign born, proficiency in English, are the key factors determining access to high-paying occupations. Labor market experience has little effect on occupational outcomes among the native born. However, evaluated at 10 years, foreign labor market experience has a modest negative impact on current occupational status. Examination of this negative effect using quantile regression shows that it is concentrated among those in high status jobs.

Suggested Citation

  • Chiswick, Barry R. & Miller, Paul W., 2007. "Earnings and Occupational Attainment: Immigrants and the Native Born," IZA Discussion Papers 2676, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2676
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Barry R. Chiswick & Paul W. Miller, 2008. "Occupational Attainment and Immigrant Economic Progress in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 84(s1), pages 45-56, September.
    2. Gilles Grenier & Li Xue, 2009. "Duration of Access of Canadian Immigrants to the First Job in Intended Occupation," Working Papers 0908E, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    3. Yigit Aydede & Atul Dar, 2017. "Is the lower return to immigrants’ foreign schooling a postarrival problem in Canada?," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-25, December.
    4. Javier Silvestre & Vicente Pinilla & Mª Isabel Ayuda, 2011. "The Labor Market Integration of Migrants: Barcelona, 1930," Economic Reports 02-2011, FEDEA.
    5. Aydede, Yigit & Dar, Atul A., 2022. "Native-born-immigrant wage gap revisited: The role of market imperfections in Canada," CLEF Working Paper Series 50, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    6. Aldashev, Alisher & Gernandt, Johannes & Thomsen, Stephan L., 2009. "Language usage, participation, employment and earnings: Evidence for foreigners in West Germany with multiple sources of selection," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 330-341, June.
    7. Katrin John & Stephan Thomsen, 2014. "Heterogeneous returns to personality: the role of occupational choice," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 553-592, September.
    8. Feng, Li & Gai, Yunwei & Chen, Xiaoning, 2014. "Family learning environment and early literacy: A comparison of bilingual and monolingual children," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 110-130.
    9. Chiswick, Barry R. & Wang, Zhiling, 2016. "Social Contacts, Dutch Language Proficiency and Immigrant Economic Performance in the Netherlands: A Longitudinal Study," IZA Discussion Papers 9760, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Dell’Aringa, Carlo & Lucifora, Claudio & Pagani, Laura, 2012. "A "Glass-Ceiling" Effect for Immigrants in the Italian Labour Market?," IZA Discussion Papers 6555, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Carlo Dell’Aringa & Claudio Lucifora & Laura Pagani, 2015. "Earnings differentials between immigrants and natives: the role of occupational attainment," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-18, December.
    12. Sherrilyn Billger & Carlos Lamarche, 2015. "A panel data quantile regression analysis of the immigrant earnings distribution in the United Kingdom and United States," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 705-750, September.
    13. Chiswick, Barry R. & Wang, Zhiling, 2019. "Social Contacts, Dutch Language Proficiency and Immigrant Economic Performance in the Netherlands," GLO Discussion Paper Series 419, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    earnings; occupation; immigrants;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

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