Related BLS programs | Related articles
Foreign born in the U.S. labor market:
the results of a special survey
The labor market experiences of the foreign born are part of the "success story" of America. Studies of the foreign born show patterns of economic difficulties in the first years after arrival, but substantial upward mobility thereafter. For example, analyzing 1970 Census data, Barry Chiswick found that foreign-born men tend to reach earnings equality with their U.S.-born counterparts in a little over a decade, and after that, they actually have higher earnings.1 Recent data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) on foreign-born U.S. residents provide further confirmation of these earlier findings.
The CPS data show striking similarities between the native-born population and the foreign born who entered the country from 1960 to 1979 with regard to their work experience during 1982. For example, among both groups, about 65 percent had worked at least some time during that recession year, of whom more than half managed to work full time the whole year. Another similarity was that for both groups the proportion experiencing some unemployment was about 20 percent. There also was a close resemblance among both groups in terms of their earnings in 1982. The median annual earnings for the foreign-born workers were $10,405, about 6 percent lower than for the native-born workers ($11,125).
This excerpt is from an article published in the July 1985 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The full text of the article is available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). See How to view a PDF file for more information.
Read abstract
Download full article in PDF
(612K)
1 Barry R. Chiswick, "The Economic Progress of Immigrants: Some Apparently Universal Patterns," in Bary R. Chiswick, ed., The Gateway: U.S. Immigration Issues and Policies, Washington, D.C., American Enterprise Institute, 1982. For more detailed analysis, see Barry R. Chiswick, An Analysis of the Economic Progress and Impact of Immigrants, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor (NTS no. PB 80200454), June 1980.
Related BLS programs
Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey
Related Monthly Labor Review articles
Immigration and wage changes of high school dropouts.—Oct. 1997.
How do immigrants fare in the U.S. labor market?—Dec. 1992.
Within Monthly Labor Review Online:
Welcome | Current Issue | Index | Subscribe | Archives
Exit Monthly Labor Review Online:
BLS Home | Publications & Research Papers
