Document Type
Article
Department or Administrative Unit
Economics
Publication Date
2-2021
Abstract
This study examines the incidence and impact of occupational licensing on immigrants using two sources of data: the Current Population Survey and the Survey of Income and Program Participation. We find that immigrants are significantly less likely to have a license than similar natives and that this gap is largest for men, workers in the highest education level, and nonnaturalized immigrants. The licensing rate increases with years since migration and shows large variation by immigrants’ region of origin. A lack of English proficiency reduces the probability that an immigrant has a license. The wage premium from having a license is much larger for immigrants than natives, though this may in part reflect licensing status proxying for English-language ability.
Recommended Citation
Cassidy, H., & Dacass, T. (2021). Occupational Licensing and Immigrants. The Journal of Law and Economics, 64(1), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1086/709834
Journal
The Journal of Law and Economics
Rights
© 2021 by The University of Chicago.
Comments
This article was originally published in The Journal of Law and Economics. The full-text article from the publisher can be found here.