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Title: Immigration and the Informal Economy

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2009

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Abstract: Employment in the informal sector is thought to be large, growing, and connected toworkers on the margin, specifically low-wage workers and immigrants. Additionally, informalwork is expected to be connected to immigration through the growth of ethnic economies andbecause some immigrants lack legal documentation to work in the U.S. We develop state-levelproxies for informal employment using differentials between measures of total employment andofficially sanctioned employment. We rely largely on self-reports in population surveys tocapture total employment and ES-202 employment records for officially sanctioned employment.In two industries commonly associated with under-the-table labor, construction and landscaping,we develop another set of proxies for informal work based on productivity per officiallysanctioned worker. We relate each set of proxies for informal employment to changes inimmigrant population and composition. We find some evidence that corroborates publicperception; immigration appears to be associated with informal employment generally, and in theconstruction industry when prevailing wages are low. States with high concentrations of lowskilled male immigrants appear to have higher levels of informal employment in the landscaping industry.

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Authors: Greene Owens, Emily; Bohn, Sarah

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Migration and Immigration

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