The Effect of Low-Skill Immigration Restrictions on US Firms and Workers: Evidence from a Randomized Lottery

Arbeitspapier

The U.S. limits work visas for low-skill jobs outside of agriculture, with a binding quota that firms access via a randomized lottery. We evaluate the marginal impact of the quota on firms entering the 2021 H-2B visa lottery using a novel survey and pre-analysis plan. Firms exogenously authorized to employ more immigrants significantly increase production (elasticity +0.16) with no decrease or an increase in U.S. employment (elasticity +0.10, statistically imprecise) across several pre-registered subsamples. The results imply very low substitutability of native for foreign labor in the policy-relevant occupations. Forensic analysis suggests similarly low substitutability of black-market labor.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 15667

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; International Migration ; Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers ; Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
• Thema: immigration ; immigrant ; foreign ; labor ; mobility ; skill ; manual ; high school ; college ; firms ; elasticity ; substitution ; productivity ; rural ; urban

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Clemens, Michael A. ; Lewis, Ethan Gatewood
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (wo): Bonn
• (wann): 2022

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/267404
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:44 MEZ