High-skill immigrants in the United States economy: Do high-skill immigrants substitute or complement native-born workers

Researchers conducted a prolific amount of research on the economics of immigration during the last decade. The bulk of prior studies underscored the impacts of unskilled or less-skilled immigrants on U.S. native labor market outcomes. Motivation for these studies emerged from claims that the United States could no longer absorb additional unskilled migrants, as well as from attempts to explain the declining incomes of unskilled U.S. native workers. With the primary emphasis on less skilled immigrants, high-skill immigrants are a much understudied segment of the foreign-born population.; While the foreign-born are more likely than U.S. natives to have less than a high-school education, they are also more likely than U.S. natives to possess a Bachelor's degree or greater. In addition, in recent years, a central theme in the immigration policy debate has been whether or not the U.S. should adopt policies that would increase the admission of highly skilled immigrants. This study contributes to the small but growing literature on the labor market impacts and experiences of high-skill immigrants by examining empirically the extent to which high-skill immigrants have an impact on the earnings of high-skill U.S. natives across occupations. Furthermore, the study disaggregates the high-skill foreign born into non-U.S. citizens and naturalized citizens to determine if different immigrant cohorts have different impacts on U.S. earnings.; The present study draws on pooled, cross-sectional data from the 1994–2001 Current Population Survey March Annual Demographic Supplements to estimate the impact high-skill immigrants have on U.S. earnings. Using an ordinary least squares wage determination model, the results indicate that a 10 percent increase in the number of high-skill immigrants results in a 2.6 percent increase in the earnings of U.S. natives. Results also indicate that high-skill naturalized immigrants have a greater positive effect on the earnings of U.S. natives than high-skill non-U.S. citizens. The evidence implies that recent immigration policies aimed at increasing the number of high-skill immigrants will not have an adverse impact on the earnings of U.S. natives.