A Comparative Analysis of the Labor Market Impact of International Migration: Canada, Mexico, and the United States

Abdurrahman Aydemir and George Borjas ()

No 12327, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Using data drawn from the Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. Censuses, we find a numerically comparable and statistically significant inverse relation between immigrant-induced shifts in labor supply and wages in each of the three countries: A 10 percent labor supply shift is associated with a 3 to 4 percent opposite-signed change in wages. Despite the similarity in the wage response, the impact of migration on the wage structure differs significantly across countries. International migration narrowed wage inequality in Canada; increased it in the United States; and reduced the relative wage of workers at the bottom of the skill distribution in Mexico.

JEL-codes: J31 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-ltv
Date: 2006-06
Note: ITI LS
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