Immigration policy and employment assimilation in the United States

Abstract

We examine the impact of immigration policy on the employment propensity and assimilation of immigrants using a pooled cross-section of the 1994–2004 Current Population Surveys (CPS). The results are generally consistent with positive immigrant employment assimilation. A Blinder–Oaxaca style decomposition shows that the foreign-born obtain more employment primarily through human capital acquisition and changes in labour market conditions rather than higher returns to observable skills, as sometimes seen in wage studies. In addition, our analysis suggests that immigration policies may influence both labour demand and supply incentives and are associated with structural shifts in the labour market.

Keywords:

• immigrant workers
• employment assimilation
• immigration policy

JEL Classification:

• J61
• J64
• J68

Notes

¹ Duncan and Waldorf (2009) also examine assimilation by using more recent data. They utilize the 2005 American Community Survey, but their analysis is focused on citizenship propensities rather than employment.

² This can be influenced by both changing supply (push) and demand (pull) factors (Borjas, 1991; Schoeni, 1998).

³ The decennial census is typically the data source when explicit English language ability controls are included, but the low frequency of this data is not conducive to examine the specific policy changes or changes in assimilation patterns over time.

⁴ Examples include the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), respectively.

⁵ These results are available from the authors upon request.