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. 2023 Oct 1;60(5):1415-1440.
doi: 10.1215/00703370-10924116.

The Economic Assimilation of Second-Generation Men: An Analysis of Earnings Trajectories Using Administrative Records

Andrés Villarreal  1 , Christopher R Tamborini  2
Affiliations

The Economic Assimilation of Second-Generation Men: An Analysis of Earnings Trajectories Using Administrative Records

Andrés Villarreal et al. Demography. .

Abstract

Previous research on the economic assimilation of recent U.S.-born children of immigrants who form the new second generation has disproportionately focused on their educational attainment and other early-life outcomes. In this study, we examine the earnings trajectories of second-generation men through a large part of their adult lives using a unique dataset that links respondents from more than two decades of the Current Population Survey to their longitudinal tax records. This longitudinal information allows us to compare the progress second-generation men of different race and ethnicity make in narrowing the earnings gaps with later generations. We consider the extent to which differences in educational attainment and in early occupational placement affect the earnings trajectories of second-generation men. New second-generation men as a whole experience considerable earnings mobility during their lifetimes. However, we also find large differences by race and ethnicity that cannot be fully explained by educational attainment. Second-generation Hispanic men in particular begin their careers with an earnings deficit relative to later-generation White men and fall further behind. Thus, the stalling or reversal in Hispanic economic assimilation appears to begin during the course of the second generation rather than in later generations as previously thought.

Keywords: Immigrant economic assimilation; Intragenerational mobility; New second generation; Racial and ethnic inequality.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Median annual earnings of second-generation men by age
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Ratio of predicted earnings of second-generation men relative to third-plus-generation Whites and third-plus-generation men of the same race and ethnicity
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Ratio of predicted earnings of second-generation men relative to third-plus-generation Whites while controlling for education
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Ratio of predicted earnings of second-generation men relative to third-plus-generation Whites by level of education
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Ratio of predicted earnings of second-generation Asian and Hispanic men by specific ethnic group relative to third-plus-generation Whites while controlling for education
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Ratio of predicted earnings of second-generation Hispanic men interviewed at ages 25–35 relative to third-plus-generation Whites, using a baseline model and models controlling for education and education with occupation fixed effects
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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