Working Paper: NBER ID: w9051
Authors: Francine D. Blau; Lawrence M. Kahn; Joan Y. Moriarty; Andre Portela Souza
Abstract: We use Census of Population microdata for 1980 and 1990 to examine the labor supply and wages of immigrant husbands and wives in the United States in a family context. Earlier research by Baker and Benjamin (1997) posits a family investment model in which, upon arrival, immigrant husbands invest in their human capital while immigrant wives work to provide the family with liquidity during this period. Consistent with this model, they find for Canada that immigrant wives work longer hours upon arrival than comparable natives, but, with time in Canada, they are eventually overtaken by native wives. In contrast, we find that, among immigrants to the United States, both husbands and wives work and earn less than comparable natives upon arrival, with similar shortfalls for men and women. Further, both immigrant husbands and wives have similar, positive assimilation profiles in wages and labor supply and eventually overtake both the wages and the labor supply of comparable natives.
Keywords: immigrants; labor market; family context; wage assimilation; human capital
JEL Codes: J1; J2; J3
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Immigrant Status (K37) | Initial Labor Market Outcomes (J49) |
| Years Since Migration (J11) | Labor Supply (J20) |
| Years Since Migration (J11) | Wages (J31) |
| Time Spent in the U.S. (J69) | Improved Labor Outcomes (J89) |
| Investment in Human Capital (J24) | Labor Market Success (J29) |
| Years Since Migration (J11) | Hours Worked by Immigrant Wives (J69) |
| Hours Worked by Immigrant Wives (J69) | Comparison with Native Wives (J15) |