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Positioned at Extremes: Future Job Placements of Immigrant Students at U.S. Colleges

2025-12-02T14:34:57-05:00

In this paper, the researchers found that immigrant students who attend U.S. colleges are disproportionately employed in either large firms—especially multinationals—or small firms and self-employment. Using linked U.S. Census and longitudinal employment data, they trace the jobs taken by college students in 2000 during the 2001-20 period and evaluate four mechanisms shaping sector and firm size placement: geographic clustering, degree specialization, firm capabilities/visas, and ethnic self-employment specialization.

They found that degree fields predict large firm and multinational placement, while ethnic specialization explains small firm sorting. Immigrant students who remain in the U.S. earn more than their native peers, suggesting the segmentation reflects productive sorting rather than blocked opportunity.

Careers of Minimum Wage Workers

2025-12-02T14:32:32-05:00

In this paper, the researchers characterize the careers of minimum wage workers by merging data collected from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation covering 1992-2016 into data from the Census Bureau's Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics Program.

A long-run analysis shows strong earnings growth for these workers in subsequent decades, becoming indistinguishable from peers earning modestly more initially. Most of this growth is due to the steep earnings trajectories of young workers. Older workers earning minimum wages show a modest dip in earnings at that moment compared to earlier and later periods. Increases in state minimum wages do not significantly alter the future careers of workers who are on the minimum wage when the increases occur.

The parental pay gap over the life cycle: Children, jobs, and labor supply

2024-11-15T11:17:26-05:00

Women earn less than men, and that is especially true of mothers relative to fathers. Much of the widening occurs after family formation when mothers reduce their hours of work. But what happens when the kids grow up?

To answer that question, the researchers estimated three earning gaps: the “motherhood penalty,” the “price of being female,” and the “fatherhood premium.” When added together, these three produce the “parental gender gap,” defined as the difference in earnings between mothers and fathers.

They estimated (log) earnings gaps for college graduates born around 1960 using longitudinal data from the NLSY79 and from the LEHD-Census that track respondents from their twenties to their fifties.

As the children grow up and as women work more hours, the motherhood penalty is greatly reduced. But women, especially mothers, seem willing throughout their working lives to trade lower pay for various amenities, such as working in firms with management practices that are less penalizing of career interruptions or of shorter work schedules. Fathers, however, manage to expand their relative earnings gains as their children age, particularly among those working in time-intensive jobs, irrespective of work hours or firm fixed effects. The parental gender gap in earnings remains substantial over the family lifecycle.

Immigrant Networking and Collaboration: Survey Evidence from CIC (Book Chapter)

2020-11-11T13:14:43-05:00

Sari Pekkala Kerr, Ph.D., and her co-author contributed a chapter in a National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report on the critical role immigrants play in the STEM workforce and innovation.

The full report explores relationships between immigration and entrepreneurship, differences between immigrant entrepreneurs and those born in the U.S., visa policies, and postgraduation migration patterns.

The chapter co-authored by Kerr investigates how immigrants and those born in the U.S. utilized networking opportunities provided by the co-working space CIC, formerly the Cambridge Innovation Center. The researchers surveyed 1,334 people working at CIC in three locations spread across the Boston area and one in St. Louis, MO. Survey responses showed that immigrants valued networking capabilities in CIC more, and the networks developed by immigrants at CIC tended to be larger. Immigrants also reported substantially greater rates of giving and receiving advice for six surveyed factors: business operations, venture financing, technology, suppliers, people to recruit, and customers.

Why Firms Offer Paid Parental Leave: An Exploratory Study

2020-11-11T13:08:50-05:00

This study explored why competitive firms in the U.S. provide paid parental leave and to what extent.

Using the BLS-Employee Benefit Survey for 2010 to 2018 and extensive firm-level data, the team found that employer-provided paid parental leave has become more prevalent in the last 20 years and often covers new fathers as well as new mothers. The extent of leave offered by U.S. companies varies greatly by firm size and industry, but even highly regarded firms in the U.S. provide less paid parental leave than the median OECD nation.

This work has been supported in part by Grant # 85-18-05 from the Russell Sage Foundation and Grant #1823635 from the National Science Foundation. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors alone and should not be construed as representing the opinions of the funders.

Immigrant entrepreneurship in America: Evidence from the survey of business owners 2007 & 2012

2020-03-12T13:03:02-04:00

Immigrant entrepreneurship plays an important role in the American economy. Immigrant- founded firms provide jobs and innovation, and immigrant entrepreneurs frequently show up in popular press business narratives, legislation and lobbying discussions, and the founding histories of many prominent firms. About 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by first- or second-generation immigrants. Yet relatively little is known about the broader impacts of immigrant entrepreneurs in terms of job creation and economic growth.

In this study, Sari Pekkala Kerr and William Kerr looked at immigrant entrepreneurship in 2007 and 2012 using the Survey of Business Owners. They found that first-generation immigrants create about 25 percent of new firms in America, and more than 40 percent in some states. They also found that immigrant-owned firms tend to create fewer jobs than native-owned firms and offer fewer benefits, but have comparable pay levels and engage more in international activities. Tech clusters like Silicon Valley demonstrate a particular strength for immigrant high-tech entrepreneurship.

These results confirm that immigrants enter entrepreneurship at a higher rate than non-immigrants, and begin to describe the distinctive features of immigrant-founded firms. This is important given the role of new businesses in generating jobs, and the significant impact of job creation on the U.S. economy.

Immigrant Entrepreneurs

2022-01-19T14:01:52-05:00

Immigrant entrepreneurs have played an important role as firm founders and job creators over the last few decades. In this essay, Kerr recommends that policymakers at the local, state, and federal level should address both business and immigration-related obstacles faced by immigrant entrepreneurs to allow them to fully contribute to economic recovery and future growth in the U.S.

This essay was part of a symposium on immigration and economic recovery after COVID-19. The Center for Growth and Opportunity asked leading economists and immigration scholars from a diverse set of perspectives, “With the COVID-19 crisis fueling increased calls to create an insular world with fewer immigrants and less trade between countries, we risk both our short-term recovery and long-term economic growth. What should civil society and policymakers do now, or as the medical emergency subsides, to ensure that economies stay open and connected?” The goal of the symposium was to offer policy solutions that will help the U.S. recover faster and emerge economically stronger than ever.

Immigration Policy Levers for US Innovation and Startups

2022-01-19T13:54:26-05:00

Immigrants account for about a quarter of U.S. invention and entrepreneurship, despite a policy environment that is not well suited for these purposes. This book chapter reviews the U.S. immigration policy environment that governs how skilled migrants move to America for employment-based purposes.

The authors discuss points of strain in the current system and potential policy reforms that would likely increase the rate of innovation and the number of startups due to immigrants in the country. Key areas include adjustments to the allocation of permanent residency visas, adjustments to the H-1B visa program, and the creation of an immigrant startup visa.

Post-secondary education and information on labor market prospects: A randomized field experiment

2022-01-19T13:44:11-05:00

In this study, the researchers examined the impact of an information intervention offered to 97 randomly chosen high schools on post-secondary education applications and enrollment in Finland. Graduating students in treatment schools were surveyed and given information on the labor market prospects associated with detailed post-secondary programs.

They found that students who were the most likely to update their beliefs due to the intervention started to apply to programs associated with higher earnings. However, this subgroup was too small to give rise to a statistically or economically significant impact on the overall application or enrollment patterns.

This project was funded by the Higher Education and Innovation Network at the University of Helsinki.

Immigrant Networking and Collaboration: Survey Evidence from CIC

2019-11-06T15:54:58-05:00

Networking and the giving and receiving of advice outside of one's own firm are important features of entrepreneurship and innovation. In this study, Kerr and Kerr investigated how immigrants and natives utilized the potential networking opportunities provided by CIC, formerly known as the Cambridge Innovation Center. CIC is widely considered the center of the Boston entrepreneurial ecosystem. The researchers surveyed 1,334 people working at CIC in three locations spread across the Boston area and CIC's first expansion facility in St. Louis, MO. Survey responses showed that immigrants valued networking capabilities in CIC more than natives, and the networks developed by immigrants at CIC tended to be larger. Immigrants reported substantially greater rates of giving and receiving advice than natives for six surveyed factors: business operations, venture financing, technology, suppliers, people to recruit, and customers. The structure and composition of CIC floors had only a modest influence on these differences.

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