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The wage impact of undocumented workers: Evidence from administrative data
Author(s) -
Hotchkiss Julie L.,
QuispeAgnoli Myriam,
RiosAvila Fernando
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
southern economic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.762
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 2325-8012
pISSN - 0038-4038
DOI - 10.1002/soej.12020
Subject(s) - earnings , wage , percentage point , point (geometry) , labour economics , demographic economics , business , longitudinal data , hourly wage , economics , accounting , finance , demography , sociology , geometry , mathematics
Using administrative, individual level, longitudinal data from the state of Georgia, this article finds that rising shares of undocumented workers results in higher earnings for documented workers, but by a small amount. A one percentage point increase in the share of undocumented workers in a documented worker's county/industry results in an average wage boost of 0.44%. Within the firm, a one percentage point increase in the percent of undocumented workers employed by the firm boosts wages by 0.09% (0.11, 0.12, and 0.04 in low, medium, and high skill firms, respectively). Potential explanations for a positive wage impact are discussed.