Empirical Estimates of the Long-Run Labor Market Adjustments to Immigration
Kevin Henrickson, Chong-Uk Kim

Abstract
Immigration’s impact on native labor markets is the central issue in forming immigration policy. Traditional economic theory suggests that immigration puts downward pressure on wages and increases unemployment. However, most empirical studies of these relationships find little to no impact of immigration using cross-sectional data. We add to this literature by examining these same relationships in the long-run through use of a VAR model on both state and national level data. Our results indicate that while immigration has no impact on wages and unemployment at the national level, it can impact these variables at the state level, but not instantaneously.

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