American Expatriate Employment Patterns

• In Event: Workforce Transitions and Mobility

Abstract

This paper presents the first large-scale empirical analysis of American expatriate employment patterns, using U.S. administrative tax data from 2008 to 2022. Despite estimates of 4.4 to 9 million Americans living abroad, limited data has constrained our understanding of how they engage in global labor markets. Drawing on information from tax filings, we examine employment tenure, firm affiliation, industry, occupation, income, and demographic characteristics. Our findings reveal that most American expatriates work for foreign rather than U.S.-based employers, that long-term residence abroad is common, and that self-employment rates vary substantially by region and income levels by employer type. Modest gender differences also emerge. These patterns depart from traditional models of corporate-initiated expatriation and point to a more multifaceted and decentralized structure of American global labor market participation, with implications for research, corporate practice, and policy.

Authors

• Zahrah Abdulrauf, Yale University

• Paul Organ, U.S. Treasury