Working Paper: NBER ID: w18696
Authors: Jennifer Hunt
Abstract: Using the American Community Surveys of 2009 and 2010, I examine the wages of immigrants compared to natives among engineering workers. Among workers in engineering occupations, immigrants are the best and brightest thanks to their high education level, enjoying a wage distribution shifted to the right of the native distribution. Among workers with an engineering degree, however, immigrants underperform natives, despite somewhat higher education. The gap is particularly large in the lower tail, where immigrants work in occupations not commensurate with their education. In the upper tail, immigrants fail to be promoted out of technical occupations to management, handicapped by imperfect English and their underrepresentation among older age groups. In both samples, immigrants from the highest income countries are the best and brightest workers.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: J61
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Immigrants from high-income countries (F22) | higher wages (J39) |
| English proficiency (I25) | higher wages (J39) |
| Higher education (I23) | higher wages (J39) |
| Immigrants (F22) | higher wage distribution than natives (J31) |
| Immigrants with engineering degrees (J69) | lower wages than natives with engineering degrees (J39) |
| Better English (Y60) | better job positions (J62) |
| Lower English proficiency (I24) | substantial wage penalties (J31) |