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Title: Immigration, Internal Migration, and Local Labor Market Adjustment During the Great Recession

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2013

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Abstract: This paper uses geographic variation in the severity of the Great Recession to examine the eff ect of local demand conditions on migration. Consistent with the existing literature, we fi nd large differences by skill group. High-skilled natives are quite responsive to employment opportunities whereas low-skilled natives' location choices are essentially una ffected by the distribution of local demand shocks. In sharp contrast to the results for natives, we fi nd that low-skilled immigrants, primarily those born in Mexico, respond strongly, with elasticities similar to those of high-skilled workers. These results are robust to the inclusion of controls for immigrant diffusion, local policies directed at immigrants, and an examination of pre-recession trends. We also address the potential endogeneity of local demand to immigrant locations using an instrumental variables strategy. Finally, we find that this geographic redistribution operated primarily through movement among immigrants resident in the US prior to the recession, although slower immigration rates from Mexico to cities with larger demand declines contributed roughly 20 percent of the reallocation.

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Authors: Cadena, Brian C.; Kovak, Brian K.

Conference Name: University of Chicago Population Research Center

Publisher Location: Chicago, Illinois

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Migration and Immigration

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