Highly-Educated Immigrants and Native Occupational Choice

Giovanni Peri and Chad Sparber ()
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Chad Sparber: Department of Economics, Colgate University

No 2010-09, Working Papers from Department of Economics, Colgate University

Abstract: Economic debate about the consequences of immigration in the US has largely focused on how influxes of foreign-born labor with little educational attainment have affected similarly-educated native-born workers. Fewer studies analyze the effect of immigration within the market for highly-educated labor. We use O*NET data on job characteristics to assess whether native-born workers with graduate degrees respond to an increased presence of highly-educated foreign-born workers by choosing new occupations with different skill content. We find that highly-educated native and foreign-born workers are imperfect substitutes. Immigrants with graduate degrees specialize in occupations demanding quantitative and analytical skills, whereas their native-born counterparts specialize in occupations requiring interactive and communication skills. When the foreign-born proportion of highly-educated employment within an occupation rises, native employees with graduate degrees choose new occupations with less analytical and more communicative content.

Keywords: Immigration; Occupational Choice; Highly-Educated Workers; Communication Skills; Mathematical Skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J31 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
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Related works:
Journal Article: Highly Educated Immigrants and Native Occupational Choice (2011)
Working Paper: Highly-Educated Immigrants and Native Occupational Choice (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cgt:wpaper:2010-09

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