Immigration Restrictions and the Wages of Low-Skilled Labor: Evidence from the 1920s

Jeff Biddle and Elior Cohen

No RWP 22-12, Research Working Paper from Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Abstract: This paper examines how the U.S. immigration restrictions of the 1920s affected the wages of low-skilled workers using newly digitized annual wage data from 1910 to 1930. Exploiting variation across local labor markets, we find that wages for low-skilled workers rose faster in areas more affected by the restrictions. These wage effects emerged early in the 1920s and persisted throughout the decade across manufacturing, construction, and agricultural sectors. Our findings help explain previously documented internal migration patterns and demonstrate how reduced immigration affected labor markets through both direct supply effects and subsequent adjustment mechanisms.

Keywords: immigration; wages; labor force (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J61 N31 N32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 51
Date: 2022-09-27, Revised 2025-02-25
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-int, nep-mig and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fedkrw:94842

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DOI: 10.18651/RWP2022-12

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