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Journal of Labor Economics Vol. 24 No. 2 2006

Immigrants and the Labor Market

James P. Smith

RAND Corporation

Abstract

This article examines skill gaps between immigrants and native‐born Americans and generational progress achieved by different immigrant ethnic groups. Evidence of a widening skill gap is not strong. While wage data show a pronounced fall in relative wages of “recent” immigrants, significant independent contributors to that decline are a widening age gap and the increasing price of skill. When attention shifts to legal migrants, the evidence is that legal migrants are, at a minimum, keeping up with native‐born Americans. I find that the concern that educational generational progress among Latino immigrants has lagged behind other immigrant ethnic groups is unfounded.

DOI
10.1086/499971
Volume
24
Issue
2
Pages
203-233
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref

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