Abstract

Wage assimilation into the U.S. labor market by immigrants, specifically immigrants from Latin America, has been extensively studied. This paper studies the wage differentiation and wage assimilation rate of Puerto Rican migrants in the U.S. labor market compared to Latin American migrants and Natives. Previous studies usually group Puerto Ricans with Latin American migrants, this poses an interesting dilemma, not all Latin American immigrants have similar educational levels or English-speaking ability, both qualities that are predictors for high wages once resettled in the US. These qualities lead to migrants resettling into higher paying salaries, usually in managerial positions rather than labor positions. Puerto Rican English speaking ability is 11% higher than migrants from other Latin American countries and Puerto Ricans have similar education levels compared to U.S. natives, at 12 years and 13.2 years respectively. The estimates using micro data from the US census indicate Puerto Rican migrants experience a smaller wage penalty. When Puerto Ricans resettle into the US, they experience a 0.11%, wage penalty, this is indicative that Puerto Ricans are better off than Latin Americans who only experience a 0.29% wage penalty. Due to Latin American migrants starting at lower wage there within lies an enormous potential to increase their wage over time; by reeducation in accredited American universities and becoming more proficient with their English. Latin American migrants wage increases quicker compared to Puerto Ricans, 0.549% versus 0.00725% per year, respectively. Migrants from Puerto Rico perform better when resettled than those from other Latin American countries.

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