TY  - JOUR
AU  - Borjas,George J.
TI  - The Impact of Assimilation on the Earnings of Immigrants:  A Reexamination of the Evidence
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 1515
PY  - 1986
Y2  - February 1986
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1515
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1515.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
George J. Borjas
Harvard Kennedy School
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/495-1393
Fax: 617/495-9532
E-Mail: gborjas@harvard.edu
M2  - featured in NBER digest on 1985-07-01
AB  - This paper reexamines the empirical basisfor two "facts" which seem to be found in most cross-section studies of immigrant earnings: (1) the earnings of immigrants grow rapidly as they assimilate into the U.S.; and (2) this rapid growth leads to many immigrants overtaking the earnings of the native-born within 10-15 years after immigration. Using the 1970 and 1980 U.S.Censuses, this paper studies the earnings growth experienced by specific immigrant cohorts during the 1970-1980 period. It is found that within-cohort growth is significantly smaller than the growth predicted by cross-section regressions for most immigrant groups. This differentialis consistent with the hypothesis that there has been a secular decline in the "quality" of immigrants admitted to the United States.
ER  -