Social networks and their impact on the earnings of Mexican Migrants

We examine the impact of different types of social networks on the wages earned by unauthorized and legal Mexican migrants during their last U.S. trip. Familial ties raise unauthorized and legal migrants’ hourly wages by an average of 2.6% and 8%, respectively, and friendship ties increase their wages by 5.4% and 3.6%, correspondingly. Furthermore, family ties seem to comparatively favor legal migrants in terms of earnings, raising their wages by approximately 0.9% more than for similar unauthorized migrants. These results underscore the potentially important role of social networks in raising Mexican migrants’ earnings, particularly among unauthorized migrants. By increasing the returns to migration, social networks may provide a stimulus to continued emigration.

[1]  M. Regets,et al.  Family Unification, Siblings, and Skills , 1995 .

[2]  James E. Rauch,et al.  Ethnic Chinese Networks in International Trade , 1999, Review of Economics and Statistics.

[3]  James E. Rauch.  Business and Social Networks in International Trade , 2001 .

[4]  Lowell J. Taylor,et al.  Undocumented Mexican immigrants and the earnings of other workers in the United States , 1988, Demography.

[5]  Bart Minten,et al.  Returns to Social Network Capital Among Traders , 2002 .

[6]  Nan Lin,et al.  SOCIAL NETWORKS AND STATUS ATTAINMENT , 1999 .

[7]  B. Chiswick,et al.  Ethnic networks and language proficiency among immigrants , 1996, Journal of population economics.

[8]  Roberto M. Fernandez,et al.  Social Capital at Work: Networks and Employment at a Phone Center , 2000, American Journal of Sociology.

[9]  B. Chiswick.  Illegal Aliens in the United States Labor Market: Analysis of Occupational Attainment and Earnings 1 , 1984 .

[10]  G. Borjas,et al.  Time-Series Evidence on the , 1994 .

[11]  Mark S. Granovetter.  Getting a Job: A Study of Contacts and Careers , 1974 .

[12]  Pia M. Orrenius.  The Role of Family Networks, Coyote Prices and the Rural Economy in Migration from Western Mexico: 1965-1994 , 1999 .

[13]  D. Lindstrom.  Economic opportunity in mexico and return migration from the United States , 1996, Demography.

[14]  M. Regets,et al.  Admission Criteria and Immigrant Earnings Profiles 1 , 1996 .

[15]  D. Massey,et al.  The long-term consequences of a temporary worker program: The US Bracero experience , 1989 .

[16]  Susan I. Ranney,et al.  Profiles of temporary Mexican labor migrants to the United States , 1983 .

[17]  W. Cornelius,et al.  Mexican migration to the United States : the view from rural sending communities , 1976 .

[18]  Friends or Strangers: The Impact of Immigrants on the U , 1990 .

[19]  Kevin M. Murphy,et al.  Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill , 1993, Journal of Political Economy.

[20]  D. Massey,et al.  A Validation of the Ethnosurvey: The Case of Mexico-U.S. Migration: , 2000 .

[21]  G. Borjas.  Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants , 1987, Foundations of Migration Economics.

[22]  Kaivan Munshi.  Networks in the Modern Economy: Mexican Migrants in the U. S. Labor Market , 2003 .

[23]  Mark S. Granovetter.  The Strength of Weak Ties , 1973, American Journal of Sociology.

[24]  Douglas S. Massey,et al.  Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration , 2002 .

[25]  Pia M. Orrenius.  Illegal immigration and enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border; an overview , 2001 .

[26]  N. Lin,et al.  Social structure and network analysis , 1985 .

[27]  Ted Mouw.  Social Capital and Finding a Job: Do Contacts Matter? , 2003, American Sociological Review.

[28]  D. Massey.  The settlement process among Mexican migrants to the United States. , 1986 .

[29]  J. Passel.  Undocumented Immigrants: Facts and Figures , 2004 .

[30]  Hillel Rapoport,et al.  Network effects and the dynamics of migration and inequality: Theory and evidence from Mexico , 2007 .

[31]  F. Rivera-batiz.  Undocumented workers in the labor market: An analysis of the earnings of legal and illegal Mexican immigrants in the United States , 1999, Journal of population economics.

[32]  Mark S. Granovetter.  T H E S T R E N G T H O F WEAK TIES: A NETWORK THEORY REVISITED , 1983 .

[33]  Julie A. Phillips,et al.  The new labor market: Immigrants and wages after IRCA , 1999, Demography.

[34]  Return to Aztlan: The Social Process of International Migration from Western Mexico , 2009 .

[35]  Phanindra V. Wunnava,et al.  Immigrants and immigration policy: individual skills family ties and group identities. , 1996 .

[36]  T. Bailey,et al.  Primary, Secondary, and Enclave Labor Markets: A Training Systems Approach , 1991 .

[37]  Douglas S. Massey,et al.  International migration and development in mexican communities , 1996, Demography.

[38]  Pia M. Orrenius,et al.  Self-Selection Among Undocumented Immigrants from Mexico , 2001 .

[39]  Douglas S. Massey,et al.  Measuring Undocumented Migration , 2004 .

[40]  C. R. Winegarden,et al.  Undocumented Immigration and Unemployment of U.S. Youth and Minority Workers: Econometric Evidence , 1991 .

[41]  D. Massey,et al.  A Validation of the Ethnosurvey: The Case of Mexico-U.S. Migration , 2000 .

[42]  G. Borjas.  The economic analysis of immigration , 1995 .

[43]  Coming out of the Shadows: Learning about Legal Status and Wages from the Legalized Population , 2002, Journal of Labor Economics.

[44]  J. Heckman.  Sample selection bias as a specification error , 1979 .

[45]  R. Warren,et al.  Immigration statistics : a story of neglect , 1986 .