Working Paper: NBER ID: w2028
Authors: George J. Borjas
Abstract: This paper analyzes the extent of labor market competition among immigrants, minorities and the native population. The study reveals that immigrants tend to be substitutes with some labor market groups, and complements with others. However, all these effects of shifts in immigrant supply on the earnings of native-born men are numerically very small, so that even if immigrants are substitutes with some native-born groups their numerical impact on the native-born wage is trivial. In addition, increases in the supply of immigrants do have a sizable impact on the earnings of immigrants themselves. Increases of 10 percent in the supply of immigrants reduce the immigrant wage by about 10 percent. Thus the main competitors of immigrants in the labor market are other immigrants.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: No JEL codes provided
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Immigrant supply (J69) | Native-born wages (J39) |
| Immigrant supply (J69) | White native-born men's wages (J39) |
| Immigrant supply (J69) | Black native-born men's wages (J39) |
| Immigrant supply (J69) | Immigrant wages (K37) |
| Specific Hispanic population supply (J20) | Non-Hispanic earnings (J31) |
| Specific Hispanic population supply (J20) | Hispanic wages (J31) |