Abstract

ORRACA ROMANO, Pedro P.  and  GARCIA MENESES, Erika. Why are the wages of the Mexican immigrants and their descendants so low in the United States?. Estud. Econ. (México, D.F.) [online]. 2016, vol.31, n.2, pp.305-337. ISSN 0186-7202.

This paper studies the role of occupational segregation in explaining the low wages among first, second and third generation Mexican immigrants in the United States. Mexican-Americans earn lower wages than African-Americans mainly because they possess less human capital. With respect to Americans of European descent, their lower wages are also a product of their smaller rewards for skills and underrepresentation at the top of the occupational structure. Occupational segregation constitutes an important part of the wage gap between natives and Mexican-born immigrants. For subsequent generations, the contribution of occupational segregation to the wage gap varies significantly between groups and according to the decomposition used.

Keywords : occupational segregation; wage differentials; Mexican-Americans.

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