title: The value of an employment-based green card.
abstract: The need for and role of highly skilled immigrant workers in the U.S. economy is fiercely debated. Proponents and opponents agree that temporary foreign workers are paid a lower wage than are natives. This lower wage partly originates from the restricted mobility of workers while on a temporary visa. In this article, we estimate the wage gain to employment-based immigrants from acquiring permanent U.S. residency. We use data from the New Immigrant Survey (2003) and implement a difference-in-difference propensity score matching estimator. We find that for employer-sponsored immigrants, the acquisition of a green card leads to an annual wage gain of about $11,860.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV 89557, USA. sankarm@unr.edu
authors.forename: Sankar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mukhopadhyay
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Oxborrow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003710:Demography; D004522:Educational Status; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004651:Employment / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008004:Licensure / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D008297:Male; D009790:Occupations / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012067:Religion; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States