Work

Substitution between Immigrant and Native Farmworkers in the United States: Does Legal Status Matter?

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: The policy debate surrounding the employment of immigrant workers in U.S. agriculture centers around the extent to which immigrant farmworkers adversely affect the economic opportunities of native farmworkers. To help answer this question, we propose a three-layer nested constant elasticity of substitution (CES) framework to investigate the substitutability among heterogeneous farmworker groups based on age, skill, and legal status utilizing National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) data from 1989 through 2012. We use farmwork experience and type of task performed as alternative proxies for skill to disentangle the substitution effect between U.S. citizens, authorized immigrants, and unauthorized immigrant farmworkers. Results show that substitutability between the three legal status groups is small; neither authorized nor unauthorized immigrant farmworkers have a significant impact on the employment of native farmworkers.

Source: IZA Journal of Development and Migration

DOI: 10.2478/izajodm-2019-0007

Authors: Xuan Wei, Gülcan Önel, Zhengfei Guan, Fritz Roka

Institutions: University of Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University

Language: English

Topic: Migration and Labor Dynamics

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Decent work and economic growth, Zero hunger, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $1,195