RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Do Employer-Sponsored Immigrants Fare Better in Labor Markets Than Family-Sponsored Immigrants?
JF RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
FD Russell Sage Foundation
SP 70
OP 93
DO 10.7758/RSF.2020.6.3.04
VO 6
IS 3
A1 Julia Gelatt
YR 2020
UL http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/6/3/70.abstract
AB Debates about revising U.S. legal immigration policies tend to question the economic value of immigrants sponsored by family members rather than by employers. To date, little evidence has been cited. This article uses the latest data to measure legal immigrants’ characteristics and economic outcomes by class of entry, comparing employment rates, self-employment rates, and occupational outcomes of family-sponsored immigrants, humanitarian migrants, and diversity visa immigrants with those of employer-sponsored immigrants. It finds that most legal, permanent immigrants to the United States show high employment rates relative to the overall U.S. population after several years in the country, but that employment-sponsored immigrants and their spouses bring the highest education and English proficiency and work in the most highly skilled occupations both initially and over time.