The labor demand was downward sloping: disentangling migrants’ inflows and outflows, 1929–1957

Biavaschi, C. (2013) The labor demand was downward sloping: disentangling migrants’ inflows and outflows, 1929–1957. Economics Letters, 118 (3). pp. 531-534. ISSN 0165-1765 doi: 10.1016/j.econlet.2012.12.005

Abstract/Summary

This paper studies in- and out-migration from the U.S. during the first half of the twentieth century and assesses how these flows affected state-level labor markets. It shows that out-migration positively impacted the earnings growth of remaining workers, while in-migration had a negative impact. Hence, immigrant arrivals were substitutes of the existing workforce, while out-migration reduced the competitive pressure on labor markets