IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v46y2022i1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the role of legal status and neighborhood social capital on immigrant economic integration in Los Angeles

Author

Listed:
  • Ashley Muchow

    (University of Illinois at Chicago)

  • Robert Bozick

    (Rice University)

Abstract

Background: Existing research has emphasized immigration policy and social capital as two crucial elements of reception that influence immigrant labor market outcomes. While much attention has been paid to these two factors in isolation, a limited body of empirical work has examined how they intersect, specifically how social capital influences the economic integration of immigrants legally precluded from the formal labor market. Objective: Our goal is to examine the extent to which immigrant legal status conditions economic integration in the United States and whether neighborhood social capital moderates this relationship. Methods: This study relies on a large probability sample of individuals residing in Los Angeles County that directly ascertains the legal status of immigrants. We employ inverse probability of treatment-weighted linear regressions to compare the labor market outcomes of undocumented immigrants to those of immigrants with varying forms of legal status and to examine how neighborhood social capital moderates the link between legal status and economic attainment. Conclusions: We find two distinct modes of economic incorporation: one of steady work and higher wages among immigrants with citizenship status, and one of lower earnings and greater reliance on self-employment among immigrants in the country without documentation. Our results suggest that neighborhood social capital does not improve the labor market prospects of undocumented immigrants and in some cases may penalize them. Contribution: By extending research on immigrant economic integration, this study highlights the labor market penalties experienced by undocumented immigrants, the limitations of neighborhood social capital in facilitating their integration into the American economy, and the potential value of self-employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Ashley Muchow & Robert Bozick, 2022. "Exploring the role of legal status and neighborhood social capital on immigrant economic integration in Los Angeles," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 46(1), pages 1-36.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:46:y:2022:i:1
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2022.46.1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol46/1/46-1.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/DemRes.2022.46.1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George J. Borjas, 2017. "The Earnings of Undocumented Immigrants," NBER Working Papers 23236, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Francisco L. Rivera-Batiz, 1999. "Undocumented workers in the labor market: An analysis of the earnings of legal and illegal Mexican immigrants in the United States," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 12(1), pages 91-116.
    3. Heejung Bang & James M. Robins, 2005. "Doubly Robust Estimation in Missing Data and Causal Inference Models," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 61(4), pages 962-973, December.
    4. Per-Anders Edin & Peter Fredriksson & Olof Åslund, 2003. "Ethnic Enclaves and the Economic Success of Immigrants—Evidence from a Natural Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 329-357.
    5. Sherrie A. Kossoudji & Deborah A. Cobb-Clark, 2002. "Coming out of the Shadows: Learning about Legal Status and Wages from the Legalized Population," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(3), pages 598-628, July.
    6. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Kusum Mundra, 2007. "Social networks and their impact on the earnings of Mexican Migrants," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 44(4), pages 849-863, November.
    7. Ottar Hellevik, 2009. "Linear versus logistic regression when the dependent variable is a dichotomy," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 59-74, January.
    8. Yu Xie & Margaret Gough, 2011. "Ethnic Enclaves and the Earnings of Immigrants," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(4), pages 1293-1315, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giuntella, Osea & Lonsky, Jakub & Mazzonna, Fabrizio & Stella, Luca, 2021. "Immigration policy and immigrants’ sleep. Evidence from DACA," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 1-12.
    2. Giuntella, Osea & Lonsky, Jakub, 2020. "The effects of DACA on health insurance, access to care, and health outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    3. Alexander M. Danzer & Barbara Dietz, 2018. "Getting Incentives Right: The economic and social determinants of migrants’ well-being during the global financial crisis," Working Papers 371, Leibniz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies).
    4. Simone Cremaschi & Carlo Devillanova, 2016. "Immigrants and Legal Status: Do Personal Contacts Matter?," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1629, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    5. Menghan Zhao & Yongai Jin, 2020. "Migrant Workers in Beijing: How Hometown Ties Affect Economic Outcomes," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(5), pages 789-808, October.
    6. Danzer, Alexander M. & Dietz, Barbara, 2018. "The Economic and Social Determinants of Migrants' Well-Being during the Global Financial Crisis," IZA Discussion Papers 11272, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Jean-Louis Arcand & Linguère M'Baye, 2013. "Braving the waves: the role of time and risk preferences in illegal migration from Senegal," CERDI Working papers halshs-00855937, HAL.
    8. Pia M. Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2015. "The Impact of Temporary Protected Status on Immigrants' Labor Market Outcomes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 576-580, May.
    9. Silvia Helena Barcellos, 2010. "Legalization and the Economic Status of Immigrants," Working Papers 754, RAND Corporation.
    10. Magris, Francesco & Russo, Giuseppe, 2016. "Fiscal Revenues and Commitment in Immigration Amnesties," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 75-90.
    11. Fabio Méndez & Facundo Sepúlveda & Nieves Valdés, 2016. "Legalization and human capital accumulation," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(3), pages 721-756, July.
    12. Jean-Louis Arcand & Linguère M'Baye, 2011. "Braving the waves: The economics of clandestine migration from Africa," CERDI Working papers halshs-00575606, HAL.
    13. Jiabin Wu, 2021. "Matching markets and cultural selection," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 25(4), pages 267-288, December.
    14. Ran Abramitzky & Leah Platt Boustan & Dylan Connor, 2020. "Leaving the Enclave: Historical Evidence on Immigrant Mobility from the Industrial Removal Office," Working Papers 2020-35, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    15. Andri Chassamboulli & Xiangbo Liu, 2024. "Immigration, Legal Status and Fiscal Impact," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 54, October.
    16. Christian Schluter & Jackline Wahba, 2012. "Abstract: Illegal Migration, Wages, and Remittances: Semi-Parametric Estimation of Illegality Effects," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2012037, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    17. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Cynthia Bansak, 2011. "The Impact of Amnesty on Labor Market Outcomes: A Panel Study Using the Legalized Population Survey," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 443-471, July.
    18. Pena Anita Alves, 2010. "Legalization and Immigrants in U.S. Agriculture," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-24, February.
    19. Francesco Fasani, 2015. "Understanding the Role of Immigrants’ Legal Status: Evidence from Policy Experiments," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 61(3-4), pages 722-763.
    20. Monteiro, Stein, 2021. "Cultural Assimilation: Learning and Sorting," MPRA Paper 110997, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    legal status; immigrants; neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics; neighborhood; social capital; labor market outcome; United States of America; undocumented immigration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:46:y:2022:i:1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Editorial Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.