Intermarriage and Socioeconomic Integration

Abstract

Previous studies show that immigrants to the United States married to natives earn higher wages than immigrants married to other immigrants. Using data from the 1980 to 2000 U.S. censuses and the 2005 to 2010 American Community Surveys, we show that these wage premiums have increased over time. Our evidence suggests that the trends are unlikely to be explained by changes in the attributes of immigrants who tend to marry natives but might instead be a result of changes in how these attributes are rewarded in the labor market. Because immigrants married to natives tend to have more schooling, part of the increasing premium can be explained by increases in the value of a college education. We find, however, that even when allowing the value of education and English-speaking ability to vary, intermarriage wage premiums have increased over time. We believe these patterns might be driven by changes in technology and globalization, which have made communication and management skills more highly rewarded in the U.S. labor market.