TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ferrie,Joseph P.
TI  - The Entry Into the U.S. Labor Market of Antebellum European Immigrants, 1840-60
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Historical Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 88
PY  - 1996
Y2  - June 1996
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/h0088
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/h0088.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Joseph P. Ferrie
Department of Economics
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL 60208-2600
Tel: 847/491-8210
Fax: 847/491-7001
E-Mail: ferrie@northwestern.edu
AB  - 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.
ER  -