2005/11/01 by Robert M. Adelman, Cameron Lippard, Cameron D. Lippard +2
Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Employment and Welfare Studies #Migration and Labor Dynamics #Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
paper · doi:10.1080/00380237.2005.10571269
crossref issued 2005/11/01 · crossref published 2005/11/01 · crossref published-print 2005/11/01 · openalex publication_date 2005/11/01 · crossref created 2012/11/19 · crossref deposited 2024/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/08/02 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02
We contribute to the debate about the effects of immigration in the United States by analyzing the impact of recent (1980-2000) immigration on the economic outcomes of African Americans. We use Census 2000 data for a sample of 150 U.S. metropolitan areas to examine these outcomes. Our findings indicate that after controlling for a variety of theoretically relevant control variables, increases in recent immigration decrease labor force non-participation and poverty, and increase median earnings, among blacks. We argue that recent immigration expands blacks' job opportunities in or near the middle of the occupational hierarchy (e.g., protective services; office and administrative support). However, we also find a non-linear effect of immigration on black median earnings which indicates an immigrant population threshold where black earnings begin to decline. Thus, both sides of this debate may be correct: middle-class blacks benefit from increased immigration, but the gains of the black middle class do not always offset the fact that poor and lower-skilled blacks are losing out because of increased competition with immigrants.