@techreport{NBERh0088,
 title = "The Entry Into the U.S. Labor Market of Antebellum European Immigrants, 1840-60",
 author = "Joseph P. Ferrie",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Historical Working Paper Series",
 number = "88",
 year = "1996",
 month = "June",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/h0088",
 abstract = {This study examines the occupational mobility of antebellum immigrants as they entered the U.S.  White collar, skilled, and semi-skilled immigrants left unskilled jobs more rapidly after arrival than farmers and unskilled workers.  British and German immigrants fared better than the Irish; literate immigrants in rapidly growing counties and places with many immigrants fared best. These findings have implications for (1) the accuracy of estimates of immigrant occupational mobility; (2) the size of the human capital transfer resulting from antebellum immigration; and (3) the causes of the difficulty experienced by some immigrant groups in transferring their skills to the U.S.},
}