CES-WP-08-27
Choices of Metropolitan Destinations by the 1995-2000 New Immigrants Born in Mexico and India: Characterization and Multivariate Explanation
Kao-Lee Liaw, William Frey
September 01, 2008
Using the confidential long-form records of the 2000 population census, we study the
choices of metropolitan destinations made by the Mexican-born and Indian-born immigrants who
arrived in the United States in 1995-2000. Based on the application of a multinomial logit model
to the data of each of these two ethnic groups, our main findings are as follows. The destination
choice behaviors of both ethnic groups were in general consistent with the major theories of
migration. Both groups were subject to (1) the attraction of co-ethnic communities and (2) the
positive effects of wage level and total employment growth. With respect to the job increases in
different wage deciles, both ethnic groups share the pattern that the less educated were subject to
the pull of increase in low-wage jobs, whereas the better educated were subject to the pull of
increase in high-wage jobs. With respect to the possibility of competitions against other foreignborn
ethnics, both ethnic groups were found to be more prone to selecting destinations where
their co-ethnics represented a relatively high proportion of the foreign-born population. The
main differences in destination choice behaviors between the two ethnic groups resulted partly
from the fact that the relative explanatory powers of our chosen explanatory factors differed
substantially between the two ethnic groups. The Mexican-born were more subject to the
attractions of (1) larger co-ethnic communities, (2) greater overall employment growth, (3) more
job increases in low wage deciles, and (4) greater share of the foreign-born population by coethnics.
In contrast, the Indian-born were more attracted by (1) higher wage level, and (2) more
job increases in high wage deciles.
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