Is the New Immigration Less Skilled Than the Old?

Author:
  • BCBarry R. Chiswick
    Barry R. Chiswick
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Abstract
This paper analyzes trends in the skills of immigrants to the United States in the post-World War II period. Changes in the supply, demand, and institutional factors determining immigration are analyzed for their implications for immigrant skills. The empirical analysis uses INS administrative data, the 1970 and 1980 censuses, and the 1976 Survey of Income and Education. Relatively more immigrants are now coming from countries whose nationals earn less in the United States. The schooling level of immigrants has been fairly stable; the declining level for the growing Hispanic immigration is offset by the high level of the increasing Asian immigration. Immigrant quality, ceteris paribus, is analyzed. Policy implications are discussed.