Immigrants' Earnings Growth and Return Migration from the U.S.: Examining their Determinants using Linked Survey and Administrative Data

Randall Akee and Maggie R. Jones

Working Papers from U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies

Abstract: Using a novel panel data set of recent immigrants to the U.S. (2005-2007) from individual-level linked U.S. Census Bureau survey data and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) administrative records, we identify the determinants of return migration and earnings growth for this immigrant arrival cohort. We show that by 10 years after arrival almost 40 percent have return migrated. Our analysis examines these flows by educational attainment, country of birth, and English language ability separately for each gender. We show, for the first time, that return migrants experience downward earnings mobility over two to three years prior to their return migration. This finding suggests that economic shocks are closely related to emigration decisions; time-variant unobserved characteristics may be more important in determining out-migration than previously known. We also show that wage assimilation with native-born populations occurs fairly quickly; after 10 years there is strong convergence in earnings by several characteristics. Finally, we confirm that the use of stock-based panel data lead to estimates of slower earnings growth than is found using repeated cross-section data. However, we also show, using selection-correction methods in our panel data, that stock-based panel data may understate the rate of earnings growth for the initial immigrant arrival cohort when emigration is not accounted for.

Keywords: Return Migration; Immigration; Human Capital; Wage Growth; Race; Panel Data. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J15 J31 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 69 pages
Date: 2019-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab, nep-mig and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2019/CES-WP-19-10.pdf First version, 2019 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Immigrants’ Earnings Growth and Return Migration from the U.S.: Examining their Determinants using Linked Survey and Administrative Data (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cen:wpaper:19-10

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