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Residual Wage Inequality and Immigration in the USA and the UK

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  • Cinzia Rienzo

Abstract

This paper assesses the effects of immigration on the increasing residual wage inequality in the USA and UK from 1994 to 2008. It does so by using an extension of the Lemieux (2006) methodology, whereby counterfactual residual variances are constructed to account not only for composition effects (changes in education-experience of the workforce), but also for increasing immigration in the labour force. The empirical analysis reveals that residual wage inequality is higher among immigrants than among natives. However, increase in immigration does not seem to represent the major force behind the increase in residual wage inequality for the USA and for the UK.

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  • Cinzia Rienzo, 2014. "Residual Wage Inequality and Immigration in the USA and the UK," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 28(3), pages 288-308, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:labour:v:28:y:2014:i:3:p:288-308
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Chiswick, Barry R. & Miller, Paul W., 2009. "Educational Mismatch: Are High-Skilled Immigrants Really Working at High-Skilled Jobs and the Price They Pay If They Aren't?," IZA Discussion Papers 4280, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    Cited by:

    1. Richard Dorsett & Cinzia Rienzo & Martin Weale, 2015. "Intergenerational and Inter-Ethnic Well-Being: An Analysis for the UK," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 451, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    2. Cinzia Rienzo, 2017. "Real wages, wage inequality and the regional cost-of-living in the UK," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1309-1335, June.
    3. Cinzia Rienzo & Carlos Vargas-Silva, 2015. "Targeting migration with limited control: the case of the UK and the EU," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-19, December.

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