Brain waste?: Educated immigrants in the US labor market

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mattoo, Aaditya; Neagu, Ileana Cristina; Oezden, Caglar
• 署名单位: The World Bank
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2007.05.001
• 发表日期: 2008
• 页码: 255-269
• 关键词: MIGRATION; assimilation; Brain drain; brain waste; education; skilled occupation

摘要

This paper investigates the occupational placement of immigrants in the US labor market using census data. We find striking differences among highly educated immigrants from different countries, even after we control for individuals' age, experience and level of education. With some exceptions, educated immigrants from Latin American and Eastern European countries are more likely to end up in unskilled jobs than immigrants from Asia and industrial countries. A large part of the variation can be explained by attributes of the country of origin that influence the quality of human capital, such as expenditure on tertiary education and the use of English as a medium of instruction. These findings suggest that underplaced migrants suffer primarily from low (or poorly transferable) skills rather than skill underutilization. The selection effects of US immigration policy also play an important role in explaining cross-country variation. The observed under-placement of educated migrants might be alleviated if home and host countries cooperate by sharing information on labor market conditions and work toward the recognition of qualifications. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.