Immigration, Labor Market Mobility, and the Earnings of Native-born Workers: An Occupational Segmentation Approach

Abstract

This paper seeks to improve on previous estimates of the impact of immigration on native wages by using an occupational segmentation approach that directly controls for regional migration and other shifts in native-born labor supply. The labor market is segmented by occupation in order to determine which, if any, native workers tend to be vulnerable to increased immigrant competition for jobs. The results suggest that nativeborn workers in the primary sector are the main beneficiaries of increased immigration, while native-born Hispanic females in the secondary sector are the most susceptible to downward wage pressures.