The Native-Born Occupational Skill Response to Immigration within Education and Experience Cells

Emily Gu () and Chad Sparber
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Emily Gu: Colgate University

Eastern Economic Journal, 2017, vol. 43, issue 3, No 4, 426-450

Abstract: Abstract Studies estimating the consequences of immigration on wages paid to native-born workers often reveal small-to-nonexistent effects when using cross city or state variation (the “spatial approach”) but large deleterious effects when using variation across education-by-experience cells (the “national approach”). One mechanism of labor market adjustment emphasized in the spatial approach is that native-born workers respond to immigration by specializing in occupations demanding skills in which they have a comparative advantage, thereby helping to protect themselves from labor market competition and wage losses. This paper examines whether the national approach also identifies this skill response. We find evidence that such a response does occur among workers without college experience. However, regressions using traditional education-by-experience cells do not find skill reallocation consistent with comparative advantage for college-educated natives. This result points to limitations of the education-by-experience cell model.

Keywords: immigration; occupational skills; F22; J24; J61; J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Working Paper: The Native-Born Occupational Skill Response to Immigration within Education and Experience Cells (2015)
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DOI: 10.1057/s41302-016-0011-z

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