TY  - JOUR
AU  - LaLonde,Robert J.
AU  - Topel,Robert H.
TI  - The Assimilation of Immigrants in the U.S. Labor Markets
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 3573
PY  - 1990
Y2  - December 1990
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3573
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3573.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Robert J. LaLonde
University of Chicago
Harris Graduate School of Public Policy
1155 E. 60th Street, #145
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773/834-3440
Fax: 773/702-0926
E-Mail: r-lalonde@uchicago.edu

Robert H. Topel
Booth School of Business
The University of Chicago
5807 South Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL  60637
Tel: 773/702-7524
Fax: 773/702-2699;708/798-5080 (home)
E-Mail: robert.topel@ChicagoBooth.edu
M1  - published as Robert J. LaLonde, Robert H. Topel. "The Assimilation of Immigrants in the U. S. Labor Market," in George J. Borjas and Richard B. Freeman, editors, "Immigration and the Workforce: Economic Consequences for the United States and Source Areas" University of Chicago Press (1992)

M2  - featured in NBER digest on 1991-05-01
AB  - This paper reassesses the evidence on the assimilation and the changing labor market skills of immigrants to the United States. We find strong evidence of labor market assimilation for most immigrant groups. For Asian and Mexican immigrants the first ten years experience in the united States raise earnings by more than 20 percent. Further, this estimate may understate the actual rate of assimilation because of the sharp decline in the relative wages of unskilled U.S. workers. We also find little evidence of declining immigrant "quality" within ethnic groups. The diminished labor market skills of new immigrants result entirely from changes in the immigrants' countries of origin.
ER  -