What Caused the Decline in Immigrant Entry Earnings Following the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965?

Harriet Duleep (), Mark C. Regets (), Seth Sanders () and Phanindra V. Wunnava ()
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Harriet Duleep: William & Mary
Mark C. Regets: National Foundation for American Policy
Seth Sanders: Cornell University
Phanindra V. Wunnava: Middlebury College

Chapter Chapter 3 in Human Capital Investment, 2020, pp 29-36 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Initial earnings of immigrants declined with successive entry cohorts since the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. This chapter describes two hypotheses—with opposing predictions about the relationship between immigrant entry earnings and earnings growth. The first suggests the decline reflects a decline in permanent skills as immigration from source countries with high levels of income inequality relative to the United States increased. A second suggests a decline in transferability of country-of-origin skills with no decline in permanent skills. This distinction is important to understand immigrant success. Low permanent skills are difficult to overcome but investment in U.S.-specific skills may facilitate the use of otherwise high permanent skills and lead to rapid earnings growth and success in the United States.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-47083-8_3

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