Does the US Labor Market Reward International Experience?
American Economic Review · 2014 · Volume 104 · Issue 5
Abstract
A typical strategy for measuring the returns to international experience—comparing the earnings of returning migrants to comparable non-migrants—has been criticized for not adequately accounting for self-selection. I suggest an alternative, testing whether individuals born beyond US borders, but into US citizenship, earn more in US labor markets relative to counterparts born on US soil. Those born abroad to US citizens did not self-select an international experience. Using the ACS, I find that the US market rewards international experience, especially in occupations that value creativity and innovation. Women, in particular, are handsomely rewarded for international human capital.
Keywords
Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants, Non-labor Discrimination, Economics of Gender, Wage Level and Structure, Wage Differentials, Geographic Labor Mobility, Immigrant Workers
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