Earnings Of Hispanic And Asian Immigrants: Are Hispanic Immigrants Discriminated Against?

Abstract

The heterogeneity of immigrants raises a question as to whether there is a general pattern of earnings progress that applies to all immigrants.  As there are many types of immigrants, earnings patterns among immigrant groups are not well known.  To fill in this research gap, this paper investigates the role of various determinants in the earnings process of two major immigrant groups: Hispanic and Asian immigrants.  If there is a gap between these two immigrant groups, could it be a result of different human capital characteristics or some other factors?  According to empirical results based on the 1990 Census of Population 5 percent Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS), the decomposition of the earnings difference between immigrant groups indicates that approximately 28 percent of the gap is unexplained by the observable labor market characteristics. Cotton’s modified version of the Oaxaca-Blinder procedure is used to decompose the earnings gap.