Immigrants' Employment Outcomes Over the Business Cycle

27 Pages Posted: 13 Dec 2010

See all articles by Pia M. Orrenius

Pia M. Orrenius

Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Madeline Zavodny

University of North Florida; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Agnes Scott College

Abstract

Immigrants have figured prominently in U.S. economic growth for decades, but the recent recession hit them hard. Immigrantsメ labor market outcomes began deteriorating even before the recession was officially underway, largely as a result of the housing bust. An analysis of employment and unemployment rates over the past 15 years shows that immigrants' labor market outcomes are more cyclical than those of natives. The greater cyclicality of immigrants' employment and unemployment is concentrated among less-educated immigrants, but college-educated immigrants nonetheless have more cyclically-sensitive employment outcomes than college-educated natives.

Keywords: business cycle, recession, employment, immigrants

JEL Classification: J21, J61, J64, E32

Suggested Citation

Orrenius, Pia M. and Zavodny, Madeline, Immigrants' Employment Outcomes Over the Business Cycle. IZA Discussion Paper No. 5354, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1723992 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1723992

Pia M. Orrenius (Contact Author)

Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas ( email )

PO Box 655906
Dallas, TX 75265-5906
United States
214-922-5747 (Phone)
214-922-5194 (Fax)

Madeline Zavodny

University of North Florida ( email )

4567 St. Johns Bluff Road, South
Jacksonville, FL 32224-2645
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 7 / 9
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Agnes Scott College ( email )

United States

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