Immigration and Wages: Evidence From the 1980s

TLDR

The study investigates whether the recent decline in real earnings of the least‑skilled U.S. workers is related to immigration by examining wage distribution changes in 24 major cities during the 1980s. It measures immigration effects on the lower tail of the wage distribution by analyzing relative wage growth rates across those cities. The analysis shows substantial city‑to‑city variation in wage growth for low‑ and high‑paid workers, but these differences are largely unrelated to immigrant inflow sizes.

Abstract

This paper presents new evidence on the effects of immigration based on changes in the distributions of wages in 24 major [U.S. cities during the 1980s....We...concentrate on measuring the effects of immigration at the lower tail of the wage distribution. In particular we ask whether recent declines in the real earnings of the least-skilled workers in the U.S. economy are related to immigration. Our empirical analysis reveals large differences across cities in the relative growth rates of wages for low- and high-paid workers. Nevertheless these differences bear little or no relation to the size of immigrant inflows. (EXCERPT)