Location: 368A Heady Hall

Description: Brian Phelan
"The Labor Market Consequences of Competing and Non-competing High-Skill Immigrants: Evidence from College Majors." 

Abstract: This paper analyzes the labor market effects of inflows of college-educated immigrants using the college majors of natives and immigrants to distinguish between the effects of competing and non-competing immigrants. We find that inflows of college-educated immigrants have both positive and negative effects on native college graduates–where immigrant inflows decrease the earnings of native workers with similar college majors but increase the earnings and employment opportunities for natives with very different majors. While the average effects of these inflows are close to zero, the estimates imply a great deal of heterogeneity across the college-educated native population in the U.S. This heterogeneity is especially evident when we estimate the effects by sex.

Contact Person: John V. Winters