Convergence Between Black Immigrants and Black Natives Across ...

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vergence is driven by the higher employment probabilities of the first generation compared to the second generation. This hypothesis will be further explored in Section 6. For women, the convergence remains although it falls to 2 percentage points for labor force participants and 1 percentage point for employed women. So far we compared first and second generation blacks to native blacks. In order to put the residual race premium in a broader context, column (2) is now also performed for blacks, as well as Asians, Hispanics, and whites (Table 5 and Table 6). The results are striking. Blacks are the only group that experience a decrease in the race premium when moving from the first to the second generation. This is true for both men and women. The increase in the race premia for other races reaches from one percentage point for white men to 12 percentage points for Hispanic women. Up until now, we compared races among themselves. In order to compare these estimates directly, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians are now compared to a common reference group: white natives. Furthermore, the subsequent plots will explore how these premia/penalties have evolved over time. Regressions control for education, potential experience, and state fixed effects. In addition, the regression for first generation immigrants also controls for time spent in the US. 13 Figures 2 and 3 show the earnings premium or penalty for being black, Asian, or Hispanic for men and women, respectively. The reference group is white native men for Figure 2 and white native women for Figure 3. 14 The panels are ordered in terms of time spent in the US, i.e the first, the second, and finally the third generation and beyond. 15 The downward spike from 2001-2003 is associated with two phenomena. First, severe data anomalies when switching from the census to ACS from 2000 to 2001 are well established in the literature. 16 Second, September 11th led to a sharp increase in suspicion and animosity towards Muslims as well as other immigrants. However, the decrease in labor market outcomes are found to be short-lived. 17 For expositional clarity, I exclude the years 2001-2003 in Figure 4 and 5. This erases the large downward spike in the race premia of first generation immigrants. The evolution of the male race penalties in Figure 4 is striking. While Asian and Hispanic men have experienced a small increase or even a decrease in their penalties across subsequent generations. the penalty on being black increases substantially as we move from the first to the second, to the third and greater generations of blacks. Holding education, experience, and state location constant, a black immigrant male earns 17% less than a white native male in 2011. This penalty increases to 27% for a black male of the 13 Due to small sample sizes, years 2004-2006, 2007-2009, and 2010-2011 are pooled for the ACS samples. For the CPS samples 1994-1998, 1999-2003, 2004-2008, and 2009-2012 are pooled. 14 Focusing exclusively on employed individuals do not change the main take-aways as Figure A.1 and Figure A.2 demonstrate. Figures are cut off at 1990 to make the comparison with the second generation easier (1994 and beyond). Figure A.3 and Figure A.4 depict the same race premia from 1970 onwards 15 The 95% confidence intervals on Figures 2 through 12, as well as A.1 through A.5 are very tight, barely visible, and therefore not depicted. 16 The driving differences seem to come from the unemployed. 17 Kaushal et al. (2007) find that September 11th was associated with a 9-11 percent decline in the real wage and earnings of Arab and Muslim men. Orrenius and Zavodny (2006) find a decline in employment and earnings among Hispanic immigrants. These are just a select few among many papers exploring the effect of September 11th on labor market outcomes of different types of immigrants. 8
second generation and reaches an astounding 34% for a black native male. In 2000, the gradient was even sharper starting with a 9% penalty for black immigrants, passing through 28% for the second generation and reaching 35% for black natives. The smoothing of the gradient is driven by an increase in the race penalty for first generation immigrants, rather than an amelioration of the race penalty of native or second generation blacks. As Figure 5 shows, the same pattern holds for black women. For women, the decrease in the race effect across generations is certainly unique to blacks. Asian and Hispanic women increase their earnings premia as they move to the next generation. In summary, comparisons within races and across races yield that black immigrants are the only racial group to consistently experience a decrease in their race premium as they move across generations. There are three potential explanations for the convergence of black immigrants to black natives across generations. First, immigrants are likely to be favorably selected in terms of motivation, dedication, and other cognitive and non-cognitive skills not captured in years of education and location choice. These might only get partially transmitted to the next generation. One would expect Hispanics and Asians to be positively selected along similar dimensions. However, Hispanic and Asian men and women do not experience a deterioration of the returns to their unobservable skills across generations. The returns, however, do converge to those of natives the same way those of blacks do. Second, black immigrants may not face the same potential discrimination and prejudice that native blacks do. This could be due to a distaste for native blacks or statistical discrimination. Immigrant blacks are recognizably different from native blacks in that they are likely to have an accent. It is possible that an accent is a plus in the labor market for blacks, increasing interview and on the job success. Growing up in the US, the second generation will not have an accent. While their names might hint at an African or Caribbean origin, they blend into native blacks more smoothly than do immigrant blacks. Figure 4 and 5 suggest that the elimination of this immigration signal might impose a penalty for the second generation. Third, the fall in the black race premium from the first to the second, to the third and greater generations could be explained with the “fade to black” phenomenon discussed in the sociology literature. Outcomes of black natives, whom the second generation might identify with, have stagnated over the past few decades, which would suggest negative assimilation for blacks. Comparing Figure 4 with Figure 5, some interesting patterns emerge. The convergence across generations that does indeed seem to be happening, proceeds somewhat differently for men and women. Moving across generations, the penalty for men drops significantly more than it does for women. Women, however, switch their ranking among racial groups. While black women have the highest return on their unobservables in the first generation, they have the lowest return as natives. 5 Convergence Within a Generation If there is convergence across generations, it seems reasonable to think there might be convergence within a generation. In other words, if first generation immigrants immigrate earlier, they are more likely to assimilate 9
Page 1 and 2: Convergence Between Black Immigrant
Page 3 and 4: 2 Literature Review Thomas Sowell (
Page 5 and 6: ates (1.26% versus 3.38%) and much
Page 7: For women both of these trends seem
Page 11 and 12: levels. 19 Past the age of 15, the
Page 13 and 14: immigrants and black natives. As di
Page 15 and 16: and 12b show the results of regress
Page 17 and 18: w i,g1,2 = p 0 + p 1 x i + a i p 2
Page 19 and 20: Figure 14 and 15 show the estimated
Page 21 and 22: [4] Black, Sandra, and Paul Devereu
Page 23 and 24: [32] Hertz, Tom, Tamara Jayasundera
Page 25 and 26: [58] Wilson, William Julius. 1987.
Page 27 and 28: Figure 4: Race Premia/Penalties for
Page 29 and 30: Figure 7: Earnings Premium by Age o
Page 31 and 32: Figure 9: Earnings Premium by Age o
Page 33 and 34: Figure 11: Labor Force Participatio
Page 35 and 36: Figure 13: Parental Outcomes by Age
Page 37 and 38: Figure 15: Case 1: Female Assimilat
Page 39 and 40: Figure 17: Case 2: Male Assimilatio
Page 41 and 42: Figure 19: Case 2: Assimilation Par
Page 43 and 44: Table 2: 2008-2012 Summary Statisti
Page 45 and 46: Table 4: Female ’Fading to black
Page 47 and 48: Table 8: Female ’Fading to black
Page 49 and 50: Table 12: Case 2: Assimilation Para
Page 51 and 52: Figure A.4: Race Premia/Penalties f
Page 53 and 54: Figure A.6: Parental Outcomes by Ag
Page 55 and 56: Figure A.8: Case 1: Female Assimila
Page 57 and 58: Figure A.10: Case 2: Female Assimil
Page 59 and 60:
Table A.2: Male ’Fading to black
Page 61 and 62:
Table A.5: Female Fading Across Gen
Page 63 and 64:
• Labor force participation and e
Page 65 and 66:
Plugging (19) back into (3) gives u
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