IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ifs/ifsewp/97-19.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The distribution of discrimination in immigrant earnings - evidence from Britain 1974-1993

Author

Listed:
  • Kevin Denny

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College Dublin)

  • Harmon, Harmon

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies)

  • Maurice Roche

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies)

Abstract

This paper uses the General Household Survey data for the UK to study earnings discrimination between natives and migrants. The key result is that the main source of discrimination is ethnicity rather than migrant status per se. This paper differs from the conventional focus in studies of earnings discrimination, which focus on mean wage differences. In contrast we study the entire distribution of the wage gap, and incorporate distributionally sensitive measures of the wage gap reflecting different levels of aversion to discrimination. Our results are consistent with previous studies for the UK that find that non-white immigrants are the most widely discriminated in terms of their labour market returns. Moreover this discrimination on the basis of colour is also present in the sub-sample of natives.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin Denny & Harmon, Harmon & Maurice Roche, 1997. "The distribution of discrimination in immigrant earnings - evidence from Britain 1974-1993," IFS Working Papers W97/19, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:97/19
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ifs.org.uk/wps/wp9719.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Borjas, George J, 1995. "Assimilation and Changes in Cohort Quality Revisited: What Happened to Immigrant Earnings in the 1980s?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(2), pages 201-245, April.
    2. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 1995. "The Wage Curve," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026202375x, April.
    3. Stewart, Mark B, 1983. "Racial Discrimination and Occupational Attainment in Britain," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 93(371), pages 521-541, September.
    4. Friedberg, Rachel M, 2000. "You Can't Take It with You? Immigrant Assimilation and the Portability of Human Capital," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(2), pages 221-251, April.
    5. McNabb, Robert & Psacharopoulos, George, 1981. "Racial Earnings Differentials in the U.K," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 33(3), pages 413-425, November.
    6. Colm Harmon; & Ian Walker, 1995. "Estimates of Economic Return to Schooling in the UK," Economics Department Working Paper Series n540195, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    7. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
    8. Harmon, Colm & Walker, Ian, 1995. "Estimates of the Economic Return to Schooling for the United Kingdom," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1278-1286, December.
    9. Alissa Goodman & Steven Webb, 1994. "For richer, for poorer: the changing distribution of income in the United Kingdom, 1961-91," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 15(4), pages 29-62, November.
    10. Bell, Brian D, 1997. "The Performance of Immigrants in the United Kingdom: Evidence from the GHS," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(441), pages 333-344, March.
    11. Farley, Reynolds, 1990. "Blacks, Hispanics, and White Ethnic Groups: Are Blacks Uniquely Disadvantaged?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 237-241, May.
    12. Harmon, Harmon & Ian Walker, 1995. "Estimates of the economic return to schooling for the UK," IFS Working Papers W95/12, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    13. repec:bla:scandj:v:92:y:1990:i:2:p:215-35 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew Oswald, 1995. "International Wage Curves," NBER Chapters, in: Differences and Changes in Wage Structures, pages 145-174, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 1995. "An Introduction to the Wage Curve," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 153-167, Summer.
    16. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 4, pages 69-91, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    17. repec:bla:econom:v:47:y:1980:i:185:p:81-87 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. O B Bodvarsson & John Sessions, 2010. "Nationality Discrimination in the Labor Market: Theory and Test," Department of Economics Working Papers 08/10, University of Bath, Department of Economics.
    2. Coral Río & Carlos Gradín & Olga Cantó, 2011. "The measurement of gender wage discrimination: the distributional approach revisited," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(1), pages 57-86, March.
    3. Nicoletti, Cheti & Platt, Lucinda & Longhi, Simonetta, 2009. "Decomposing pay gaps across the wage distribution: investigating inequalities of ethno-religious groups and disabled people," ISER Working Paper Series 2009-31, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    4. Priscillia Hunt, 2012. "From the bottom to the top: a more complete picture of the immigrant-native wage gap in Britain," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-18, December.
    5. Hunt, Priscillia, 2008. "Are immigrants so stuck to the floor that the ceiling is irrelevant?," Economic Research Papers 269787, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    6. Oliver Himmler & Robert Jäckle, 2018. "Literacy and the Migrant–Native Wage Gap," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(3), pages 592-625, September.

    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. Hunt, Priscillia, 2008. "Are immigrants so stuck to the floor that the ceiling is irrelevant?," Economic Research Papers 269787, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    2. Rosso, Anna, 2019. "Emigrant selection and wages: The case of Poland," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 148-175.
    3. Ainhoa Aparicio Fenoll & Zoë Kuehn, 2017. "Compulsory Schooling Laws and Migration Across European Countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(6), pages 2181-2200, December.
    4. Hatton, Timothy J. & Wheatley Price, Stephen, 1998. "Migration, Migrants and Policy in the United Kingdom," CEPR Discussion Papers 1960, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht, 2011. "Migration and Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 327-439, Elsevier.
    6. Sarah Brown & John G. Sessions, 2003. "Earnings, Education, and Fixed‐Term Contracts," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 50(4), pages 492-506, September.
    7. Anna Rosso, 2016. "Skill Transferability and Immigrant-Native Wage Gaps," Development Working Papers 405, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano, revised 21 Oct 2016.
    8. Darragh Flannery & Cathal O'Donoghue, 2016. "Utilizing Microsimulation to Estimate the Private and Fiscal Returns to Education: Ireland 1987–2011," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 84(1), pages 55-80, January.
    9. Akay, Alpaslan & Tezic, Kerem, 2007. "Local Unemployment and the Earnings-Assimilation of Immigrant Men in Sweden: Evidence from Longitudinal Data, 1990-2000," Working Papers in Economics 277, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics, revised 21 Jan 2007.
    10. Meng, Xin & Zhao, Guochang, 2021. "The long shadow of a large scale education interruption: The intergenerational effect," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. Baltagi, Badi H. & Rokicki, Bartlomiej, 2013. "The Polish Wage Curve: Micro Panel Data Analysis Based on the Polish Labor Force Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 7812, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Lanot, Gauthier & Walker, Ian, 1998. "The union/non-union wage differential: An application of semi-parametric methods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 327-349, June.
    13. Alan B. Krueger, 2002. "Inequality, Too Much of a Good Thing," Working Papers 845, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    14. Appleton, Simon & Song, Lina & Xia, Qingjie, 2005. "Has China crossed the river? The evolution of wage structure in urban China during reform and retrenchment," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 644-663, December.
    15. Bolzern, Benjamin & Huber, Martin, 2017. "Testing the validity of the compulsory schooling law instrument," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 23-27.
    16. Euwals, Rob & Dagevos, Jaco & Gijsberts, Mérove & Roodenburg, Hans, 2007. "Immigration, Integration and the Labour Market: Turkish Immigrants in Germany and the Netherlands," IZA Discussion Papers 2677, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Liwiński, Jacek, 2018. "The Impact of Compulsory Schooling on Earnings. Evidence from the 1999 Education Reform in Poland," GLO Discussion Paper Series 253, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    18. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2005. "Why the Apple Doesn't Fall Far: Understanding Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 437-449, March.
    19. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht & Vogel, Thorsten, 2010. "Employment, wages, and the economic cycle: Differences between immigrants and natives," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 1-17, January.
    20. Lindsey Macmillan & Emma Tominey, 2023. "Parental inputs and socio-economic gaps in early child development," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1513-1543, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

    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:ifs:ifsewp:97/19. 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: Emma Hyman (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifsssuk.html .

    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.