Abstract
Illegal aliens are foreign-born persons whose mere presence is in violation of the law of the United States or who have violated a condition of their legal entry into the country. The former group includes persons who entered the country illegally, either with fraudulent documents or by evading an immigration service inspection. The latter includes persons who entered under student or tourist visas and who work in violation of their visas or who stay longer than the visa permits. It is not possible to identify illegal aliens in conventional data sources, or to estimate directly their number or characteristics. Indirect methods can be used, however, to obtain some insights into their characteristics. This paper is concerned with the economic status of illegal aliens as measured by the occupational distribution and earnings of apprehended illegal aliens.
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References
See Barry R. Chiswick, ‘Guidelines for the Reform of Immigration Policy’, in William Feliner (ed.), Contemporary Economic Problems ( Washington, American Enterprise Institute, 1981 ).
United States Department of Justice, 1978 Statustical yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalizatoin Service (Washington, 1980), p. 23.
United States Department of Justice, 1978 Annual Report of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (Washington, 1980), p. 17.
For one approach, see Barry R. Chiswick and Francis A. Fullam, ‘Feasibility Study for a Survey of the Employers of Undocumented Aliens’ (June 1980), National Technical Information Service, PB80–208879.
For a description of the data, see David North and Marion Houstoun, The Characteristics and Role of Illegal Aliens in the United States Labor Market ( Washington, Linton ), 1976.
The occupational level of legal immigrants from Mexico has been shown to increase with the duration of residence in the United States, other things the same. See Barry R. Chiswick, ‘A Longitudinal Analysis of the Occupational Mobility of Immigrants’, in Barbara Dennis (ed.), Proceedings of the 30th Annual Winter Meeting of the Industrial Relations Research Association ( Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1978 ) pp. 20–7.
See Barry R. Chiswick, ‘The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-Born Men’, Journal of Political Economy, October 1978, 897–921
or Barry R. Chiswick, ‘The Economic Progress of Immigrants: Some Apparently Universal Patterns’, in William Fellner (ed.), Contemporary Economic Problems ( Washington, American Enterprise Institute, 1979 ), pp. 357–99.
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© 1983 International Economic Association
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Chiswick, B.R. (1983). Illegal Aliens in the United States Labour Market. In: Weisbrod, B., Hughes, H. (eds) Human Resources, Employment and Development. International Economic Association Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22741-9_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22741-9_24
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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