Working Their Way Up? Us Immigrants' Changing Labor Market Assimilation in the Age of Mass Migration

42 Pages Posted: 30 Oct 2019 Last revised: 3 Jul 2023

See all articles by William J. Collins

William J. Collins

Vanderbilt University - College of Arts and Science - Department of Economics; The Brookings Institution; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Ariell Zimran

Vanderbilt University

Date Written: October 2019

Abstract

Whether immigrants advance in labor markets during their lifetime relative to natives is a fundamental question in the economics of immigration. We examine linked census records for five cohorts, spanning 1850-1940, when immigration to the United States was at its peak. We find a U-shaped pattern of assimilation: immigrants were “catching up” to natives in the early and later cohorts, but not in between. This change was not due to shifts in immigrants’ source countries. Instead, it was rooted in men’s early-career occupations, which we associate with structural change, strengthening complementarities, and large immigration waves in the 1840s and 1900s.

Suggested Citation

Collins, William J. and Zimran, Ariell, Working Their Way Up? Us Immigrants' Changing Labor Market Assimilation in the Age of Mass Migration (October 2019). NBER Working Paper No. w26414, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3476494

William J. Collins (Contact Author)

Vanderbilt University - College of Arts and Science - Department of Economics ( email )

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The Brookings Institution

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Ariell Zimran

Vanderbilt University ( email )

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Nashville, TN 37240
United States

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