Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increase in immigration to the United States, particularly among low skill workers from South and Central America fleeing violence or seeking better economic opportunities. Wages of migrants typically start off significantly lower than those of natives and take 10-15 years to reach parity11. The pace at which migrant wages reach parity is known as the assimilation rate. This paper investigates how the assimilation rates vary across different occupations due to variation in tasks intensities (manual, abstract and routine task intensities). This paper uses repeated cross-sectional data from the American Community Survey (ACS) and US Census merged with data from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles to estimate the different assimilation rates for detailed occupation groups. The paper finds that the assimilation rate is positively correlated with manual and routine task intensity, while there is a negative correlation between abstract task intensity and assimilation rate. The positive correlation indicates that immigrants in occupations that require less complex, or easier to learn, skills assimilate more rapidly, reaching wage parity with natives faster than their counterparts in occupations requiring more abstract skills.

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