Immigration, Unemployment and Labor Force Participation in the United States

This study examines the relationship between immigrants’ share of the labor force and US natives’ unemployment and labor force participation rates using comprehensive data from 2005-2013. The study controls for economic conditions that may affect the number of immigrants in a state and presents two-stage least squares estimates that control for endogeneity. The results of the state-level analysis indicate that immigration does not increase US natives’ unemployment or reduce their labor force participation. Instead, having more immigrants reduces the unemployment rate and raises the labor force participation rate of US natives within the same sex and education group.

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