1. Undocumented Immigration and Host-Country Welfare: Competition Across Segmented Labor Markets.
- Author
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Carter, Thomas J.
- Subjects
- *
FOREIGN workers , *EMIGRATION & immigration , *ECONOMIC competition , *LABOR market , *WAGES , *IMMIGRANTS - Abstract
In this paper's model, undocumented workers are endogenously sorted into secondary labor markets. When further illegal immigration occurs, some new migrants follow their fellows into already migrant-dominated jobs, lowering migrant wages and raising real incomes of host-country labor and capital. Some submarkets switch from employing legal workers to employing migrants, lowering demand for and wages of legal workers. Undocumented immigration is Pareto-improving when enforcement reserves primary-sector jobs for legal workers. Pareto-dominant policies target the number of migrant-dominated submarkets, not the number of migrants. This appears consistent with U.S. enforcement practices. The effects of deportations, employer sanctions, and amnesties are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2005
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