Migration and the employment and wages of native and immigrant workers

This article assesses the association between migration (both international and internal) and the employment status and earnings of young non-college- educated native White, Black Hispanic, Asian, and immigrant white-collar an d blue-collar workers in the United Stares during the decade from 1980 to 1 990. The authors present results that only partly support the claim that in ternal migrants and immigrants are substitutes for native workers. On one h and, the authors found that migration (flow) was not a major factor associa ted with the increased joblessness and decreased wages experienced by some native groups during the 1980s, particularly among blue-collar workers. On the other hand, the authors did find that changes in the foreign-born compo sition of an industrial sector (a measure of immigrant stock) were associat ed with increased joblessness of native workers and decreased joblessness o f immigrant workers.