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Title: Does Immigration Affect Native Wages? An Analysis of the Impact of Immigration on Native Workers Based on Skill Level

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2020

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Abstract: Immigration policy is one of the longest standing debates in United States history. Discussions based on racial, ethical, political, and economic premises have continued to shape and shift immigration policy in various different directions. This paper addresses this issue through an economic lens as it attempts to understand the impact of immigration on the wages of native workers as a whole. It also dives deeper into the discussion as it analyzes the impact immigration has on high- and low-skilled native workers separately in addition to the overall impact. This paper attempts not to simply answer whether immigration is beneficial to the US, but to whom and by how much specifically, if at all. Regression analysis is used to address these questions, and the groups are divided by occupational categories. A high-skilled occupation is defined as one where the average educational attainment is beyond a high school degree. When pooled, native workers are negatively affected by immigration. However, when examined as a group native in high-skilled occupational categories experience a relatively large positive effect. Natives in low-skilled occupations are negatively affected by immigration. It is noted that when divided by individual skill level rather than occupational skill level, low-skilled individuals are also positively affected, though at a relatively low magnitude. The results for all groups are statistically significant.

Url: https://www.runi.ac.il/media/re2bazsr/policy-paper-shir-cohen-and-zach-blank.pdf

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Authors: Cohen, Shir; Blank, Zach

Publisher: The Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Migration and Immigration

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