Assimilation and Changes in Cohort Quality Revisited: What Happened to Immigrant Earnings in the 1980s?

George Borjas

No 4866, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper uses the 1970, 1980, and 1990 Public Use Samples of the U.S. Census to document what happened to immigrant earnings in the 1980s, and to determine if pre-1980 immigrant flows reached earnings parity with natives. The relative entry wage of successive immigrant cohorts declined by 9 percent in the 1970s, and by an additional 6 percent in the 1980s. Although the relative wage of immigrants grows by 10 percent during the first two decades after arrival, the relative wage of post-1970 immigrants will remain 15 to 20 percent below those of natives throughout much of their working lives.

JEL-codes: J1 J6 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1994-09
Note: LS
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published as Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 13, no. 2 (April 1995): pp. 201-245.

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