THE INCIDENCE OF SUBMINIMUM PAY AMONG NATIVE AND IMMIGRANT WORKERS

This paper econometrically compares the subminimum wage propensities o f immigrants and US natives using 1989 microdata. A conventional expec tation is that immigrants are more likely to earn subminimum wages bec ause of their lesser education and knowledge of labor rights. However, immigrants also tend to participate full time in the labor market and field studies suggest they provide employers an 'experienced' labor p ool. Indeed, our findings indicate that immigrants by age, sex, and ra ce/ethnic group are less likely than natives to receive subminimum wag es. These findings imply that the foreign born do not contribute dispr oportionately to the informal economy.