IZA DP No. 1063: Are Refugees Different from Economic Immigrants? Some Empirical Evidence on the Heterogeneity of Immigrant Groups in the United States
published in: Review of Economics and Statistics, 2004, 86(2), 465-480
This paper analyzes how the implicit difference in time horizons between refugees and
economic immigrants affects subsequent human capital investments and wage assimilation.
The analysis uses the 1980/1990 Integrated Public Use Samples of the Census to study
labor market outcomes of immigrants who arrived in the U.S. from 1975 to 1980. I find that in
1980 refugee immigrants in this cohort earned 6 percent less and worked 14 percent fewer
hours than economic immigrants. Both had about the same level of English skills. The two
immigrant groups had made substantial gains by 1990; however, refugees had made greater
gains. In fact, the labor market outcomes of refugee immigrants surpassed those of economic
immigrants. In 1990, refugees from the 1975-1980 arrival cohort earned 20 percent more,
worked 4 percent more hours, and improved their English skills by 11 percent relative to
economic immigrants. The higher rates of human capital accumulation for refugee
immigrants contribute to these findings.
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