Highly-Educated Immigrants and Native Occupational Choice

Giovanni Peri and Chad Sparber ()
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Chad Sparber: University of California, Davis and NBER, Colgate University

No 813, RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series from Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM)

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 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 highlyeducated employment within an occupation rises, native employees with graduate degrees choose new occupations with less analytical and more communicative content. For completeness, we also assess whether immigration causes highlyeducated natives to lose their jobs or move across state boundaries. We find no evidence that either occurs.

Keywords: Immigration; Occupational Choice; Highly-Educated Workers; Communication Skills; Mathematical Skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J31 J61 R13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-edu, nep-lab and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

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https://www.cream-migration.org/publ_uploads/CDP_13_08.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Highly Educated Immigrants and Native Occupational Choice (2011)
Working Paper: Highly-Educated Immigrants and Native Occupational Choice (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:crm:wpaper:0813

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