Black Immigrants and the U.S. Labor Market: The Role of Occupational Mismatch in Earnings

• In Event: 411 - Section on Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 08. Labor, Mobility, and Inequality.

Abstract

Unlike Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia (countries that use a skill-based point system for immigration) the vast majority of immigrants to the United States enter the country on family based visas. Recently, however, immigration policy in the U.S. has decidedly shifted towards skills-based immigration prompted, in part, by renewed public interest in immigration policy. The focus on a skills-based immigration system is largely due to the presumption that immigrants selected for skills and education are more likely to be successful in the U.S. labor market than family immigrants. However, research shows that the American skill deficit is not due to differences in immigrant admissions systems. African immigrants are one group that exemplifies how high skilled immigrants are coming to the United States even without skills-based visas, yet they do not seem to be able to utilize this education appropriately in the U.S. labor market. Africans are the only black immigrant group to be overeducated for their jobs compared to having the required education. The association between over-education and low wages is well established, however no research has determined whether this type of occupational mismatch explains African immigrants’ low wages, or whether their low wages instead reflect larger structural disadvantages in the labor market. This study aims to address this gap by comparing black immigrants to U.S. and foreign-born groups to determine whether difference in the effect of occupational mismatch stem from characteristics related to their nativity or are based on disadvantage in the labor market associated with race.

Author

• Rebbeca Tesfai, Temple University