THE IMMIGRATION REFORM AND CONTROL ACT AND THE WAGES OF MEXICAN ORIGIN WORKERS - EVIDENCE FROM CURRENT POPULATION SURVEYS

This paper examines, labor market effects of immigration during the 19 80s, a period that included the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) in 1986. Analysis of Current Population Survey data from 1979 to 1989 containing information on wages and immigration lea ds to three major findings concerning changes after the passage of IRC A in the wages' of various immigrant and native-born groups, net of te mporal trends in wages during the period: (1) the wages of recent Mexi can immigrants (those who report,they entered the country within the p ast 5 years) did not change much through the period covered by the sur veys, either before or after IRCA; (2) the wages of Mexican immigrants who have been in the country more than 10 years declined by about 15 percent after IRCA was passed; and (3) a post-IRCA decline did not occ ur among U.S. native-born Mexican origin workers, suggesting that U.S. native-born and immigrant workers may be less likely to compete with one another in the labor market than immigrant groups do with each oth er.