Low-Wage Jobs, Foreign-Born Workers, and Firm Performance

Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, Esther Arenas Arroyo, Parag Mahajan and Bernhard Schmidpeter

No 384, Department of Economics Working Paper Series from WU Vienna University of Economics and Business

Abstract: How do migrant workers impact firm performance? We exploit an unexpected Change in firms’ likelihood of securing low-wage workers through the U.S. H-2B visa program to address this question. Using comprehensive administrative data, we find that access to H-2B workers raises firms’ annual revenues and survival likelihood. We do not find evidence of crowding out of non-H-2B workers or negative spillover effects on competitor firms. Our results support the notion that formal guest worker programs can mitigate labor shortages while limiting harm to incumbent workers.

Keywords: guest workers; migrants; employment; firm dynamics; H-2B visa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-09
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