1 / 12

Impact of Immigration on the Distribution of Well-Being

Impact of Immigration on the Distribution of Well-Being. by Gary Burtless The Brookings Institution August 11, 2009 Social Security Administration and Retirement Research Consortium Conference. Number (millions) and percent foreign born, 1850-2007. Source: Census Bureau.

halle
Download Presentation

Impact of Immigration on the Distribution of Well-Being

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Impact of Immigration on the Distribution of Well-Being by Gary Burtless The Brookings Institution August 11, 2009 Social Security Administration and Retirement Research Consortium Conference

  2. Number (millions) and percent foreign born, 1850-2007 Source: Census Bureau.

  3. Immigration and the income and wage distributions • Historically high rates of immigration • Major differences between immigrants and current residents • Age distribution • Skill mix • Direct impact on distribution of well-being • Average wage • Average income • Age-profile of income

  4. Immigration and the income and wage distributions • Ignore feedback effects on natives’ wages • Use March CPS / ASEC files to estimate trends in wages, incomes ifthere were fewer immigrants • Identification of immigrants, year of entry • YEARS: 1993-2007 • POLICY CHANGE: 1980 • Doubtful identification of adult children of post-1979 immigrants

  5. Post-1979 immigrants in the U.S. wage distribution, 1993-2007 Share = 13.3% Share = 10.6% Share = 5.8% Source: Tabulations of 1994, 2001, and 2008 ASEC files.

  6. Average Annual Wage by Immigrant Status and Year of Entry into the U.S., 1993 - 2007 19% 26% Source: Tabulations of 1994 - 2008 ASEC files.

  7. Impact of Reduced Immigration after 1979 on Level of Economy-Wide Average U.S. Wage, 1980-2007 Source: Tabulations of 1994 - 2008 ASEC files.

  8. Impact of Post-1979 Immigration on Average Size-Adjusted Personal Income, 1993 - 2007 -2.0% -3.2% Source: Tabulations of 1994 - 2008 ASEC files.

  9. Impact of selected changes in immigration policy on median size-adjusted personal income, 1993-2007 Percent of median size-adjusted income in indicated year +1.8% +1.7% +1.1% +1.0% Source: Tabulations of 1994, 2001, and 2008 ASEC files.

  10. Increase in size-adjusted average income resulting from 20% cut in immigration after 1979: IMPACT ON AGE PROFILE OF INCOME (2006)

  11. Increase in size-adjusted average income resulting from reduced immigration after 1979:IMPACT of ALTERNATIVE POLICIES (2006) 50% CUT IN MEXICAN IMMIGRATION 50% CUT IN DROPOUTS 20% OVERALL CUT

  12. Immigration and well-being • Reduced immigration would -- • Raise average wage of remaining population • Produce faster growth in initial social security benefits • Increase residents’ average income • Boost the relative incomes of residents who are members of households headed by younger adults • These conclusions ignore spillover effects of lower immigrant labor supply on prices and on natives’ employment and wages

More Related