This article analyzes the factors that explain the lower earnings of Mexican immigrants relative to natives and explores whether some of the discrepancies in immigrant-native earnings reflect different patterns of income attainment between the two groups. Using data from the 1990 Panel Study of Income Dynamics/Latino National Political Survey, a series of incremental regression models are conducted. Separate models for immigrants and natives reveal that education, occupation, and metropolitan location have a large positive effect on the earnings of native-born Mexican men but no significant effect on immigrants. For immigrants, work experience in the United States increases earnings. Working in manufacturing and living in the South significantly decrease the earnings of immigrants. However, both benefit substantially from union membership. The findings suggest that policy interventions to improve the socioeconomic status of Mexican Americans need to be responsive to different patterns of economic integration.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bean, F. D.
, Cushing, R. G., & Haynes, C. W. (1994-1995). The changing demography of U.S. immigration flows: Patterns, projections, and contexts (Paper No. 94-95-16). Austin: The University of Texas at Austin, Population Research Center.
2.
Borjas, G. J.
(1985). Assimilation, changes in cohort quality, and the earnings of immigrants. Journal of Labor Economics, 3(4), 463-489.
3.
Borjas, G. J.
(1990). Friends or strangers: The impact of immigrants on the U.S. economy.New York: Basic Books.
4.
Borjas, G. J.
(1994). The economics of immigration. Journal of Economic Literature, 32, 1667-1717.
5.
Chapa, J.
(1990). The myth of Hispanic progress: Trends in the educational and economic attainment of Mexican Americans. Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy, 4, 3-18.
6.
Chiswick, B. R.
(1979). The economic progress of immigrants: Some apparently universal patterns. In W. Fellner (Ed.), Contemporary economic problems (pp. 357-399). Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute.
7.
Chiswick, B. R.
(1984). Illegal aliens in the United States labor market: Analysis of occupational attainment and earnings. International Migration Review, 18(3), 714-732.
8.
Chiswick, B. R.
(1986). Mexican immigrants: The economic dimension. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 487, 92-101.
9.
Chiswick, B. R.
(1991). Speaking, reading, and earnings among low-skilled immigrants. Journal of Labor Economics, 9(2), 149-170.
10.
Chiswick, B. R.
, & Sullivan, T. A. (1995). The new immigrants. In R. Farley (Ed.), State of the Union: America in the 1990s (Volume Two, Social Trends) (pp. 211-270). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
11.
Duleep, H. O.
, & Regets, M. C. (1994). The elusive concept of immigrant quality (Policy Discussion Paper No. PRIP-UI-28). Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, Program for Research on Immigration Policy.
12.
Duncan, G. J.
, Hill, M., Lepkowski, J., Garza, R. de la, Falcon, A., Garcia, C., & Garcia, J. (1992). Documentation for the 1990 PSID/LNPS early release file for data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the Latino National Political Survey. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Survey Research Center.
13.
Edmonston, B.
, & Passel, J. S. (1994). Ethnic demography: U.S. immigration and ethnic variation. In B. Edmonston & J. S. Passel (Eds.), Immigration and ethnicity: The integration of America’s newest arrivals (pp. 1-30). Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
14.
Enchautegui, M. E.
(1995). Policy implications of Latino poverty. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
15.
Fix, M.
, & Passel, J. S. (1994). Immigration and immigrants: Setting the record straight. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
16.
Garvey, D. L.
(1997). Immigrants’earnings and labor-market assimilation: A case study of New Jersey. In T. J. Espenshade (Ed.), Keys to successful immigration: Implications of the New Jersey experience (pp. 291-321). Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
17.
Gelbard, A. H.
, & Carter, M. (1997). Mexican immigration and the U.S. population. In F. D. Bean, R. O. de la Garza, B. R. Roberts, & S. Weintraub (Eds.), At the crossroads: Mexico and U.S. immigration policy (pp. 116-143). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
18.
Greenwood, M. J.
, & McDowell, J. M. (1986). The factor market consequences of U.S. immigration. Journal of Economic Literature, 24(December), 1738-1772.
19.
Jasso, G.
, & Rosenweig, M. R. (1990). The new chosen people: Immigrants in the United States. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
20.
Kossoudji, S. A.
(1989). Immigrant worker assimilation: Is it a labor market phenomenon. The Journal of Human Resources, 24(3), 494-527.
21.
LaLonde, R. J.
, & Topel, R. H. (1992). The assimilation of immigrants in the U.S. labor market. In G. J. Borjas & R. B. Freeman (Eds.), Immigration and the work force: Economic consequences for the United States and source areas (pp. 67-92). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
22.
Massey, D. S.
(1981). Dimensions of the new immigration to the Untied States and the prospects for assimilation. Annual Review of Sociology, 7, 57-85.
23.
Massey, D. S.
(1993). Latinos, poverty, and the underclass: A new research agenda. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 15(4), 449-475.
24.
Moore, J.
, & Pinderhughes, R. (1993). In the barrios: Latinos and the underclass debate.New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
25.
Perez, S. M.
, & Martinez, D. (1993). State of Hispanic America 1993: Toward a Latino antipoverty agenda. Washington, DC: National Council of La Raza.
26.
Rochin, R. I.
(1989). Economic perspectives of the Hispanic community. Claremont, CA: Tomas Rivera Policy Studies Center.
27.
Sorensen, E.
, & Enchautegui, M. E. (1994). Immigrant male earnings in the 1980s: Divergent patterns by race and ethnicity. In B. Edmonston & J. S. Passel (Eds.), Immigration and ethnicity: The integration of America’s newest arrivals (pp. 139-161). Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
28.
Tienda, M.
(1983a). Market characteristics and Hispanic earnings: A comparison of natives and immigrants. Social Problems, 31(1), 59-72.
29.
Tienda, M.
(1983b). Nationality and income attainment among native and immigrant Hispanic men in the United States. The Sociological Quarterly, 24, 253-272.
30.
Tienda, M.
, & Neidert, L. J. (1984). Language, education, and the socioeconomic achievement of Hispanic origin men. Social Science Quarterly, 65, 519-536.
31.
Yinger, J. M.
(1985). Assimilation in the United States: The Mexican-Americans. In W. Connor (Ed.), Mexican Americans in a comparative perspective (pp. 30-55). Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
