Why are the wages of the Mexican immigrants and their descendants so low in the United States?

Pedro P. Orraca-Romano and Erika García-Meneses
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Pedro P. Orraca-Romano: University of Sussex
Erika García-Meneses: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California

Estudios Económicos, 2016, vol. 31, issue 2, 305-337

Abstract: This paper studies the role of occupational segregation in explaining the low wages among first, second and third generation Mexican immigrants in the United States. Mexican-Americans earn lower wages than African-Americans mainly because they possess less human capital. With respect to Americans of European descent, their lower wages are also a product of their smaller rewards for skills and under representation at the top of the occupational structure. Occupational segre- gation constitutes an important part of the wage gap between natives and Mexican-born immigrants. For subsequent generations, the contribution of occupational segregation to the wage gap varies significantly between groups and according to the decomposition used.

Keywords: occupational segregation; wage differentials; Mexican-Americans (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J31 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:emx:esteco:v:31:y:2016:i:1:p:305-337

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