Migration and the Earnings of Hispanic Men

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This content downloaded from 128.111.121.42 on Sun, We investigate the relationship between geographic mobility and the earnings of Hispanic men and white men using the 1980 Public Use Sample. Migration status and labor force participation status are treated as joint selection processes and are incorporated into the earnings models. Despite the distinctive social and residential profiles of Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban men, results show that residence in a concentrated ethnic area deters migration for all groups, even though they experience modest earnings penalties. Residence in a concentrated ethnic area is not related to labor force participation. The earnings returns to migration are negligible, at least over the short term. Because much research on the Hispanic population has documented differences according to national origin, it is noteworthy that ourfinding shows similar effects of residence in concentrated ethnic areas on migration probabilities and only trivial effects of migration on earnings for all groups. However, consistent with prior research on economic inequality, the effects of residence in an area of ethnic concentration and area wage rates on earnings differed among Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans. From a macroeconomic perspective, migration corrects spatial imbalances in the returns to various factors of production, especially labor and capital (Morrison 1977; DaVanzo 1981). Migrants flow from areas of declining economic opportunities toward areas of expanding economic opportunities. Thus, migration decisions and the economic returns to mobility should be influenced by economic conditions at origin and destinationtight labor markets should deter migration and attract movers, while slack labor markets should encourage out-migration and discourage in-migration.A human capital perspective views individual migration decisions as investment choices that maximize economic well-beingat destination, jobless migrants may secure jobs and jobholding migrants may secure better-paying jobs. Social and cultural differences among racial and ethnic groups may also govern decisions about geographic relocation. These "noneconomic" considerations may explain why a decision not to migrate may be "rational," even among the unemployed.The social determinants of migration are less understood and less thoroughly researched than the economic determinants (for recent exceptions, see Massey 1987, 1990). We examine one aspect of the social organization of workthe ethnic composition of labor marketsin relation to the migration decision. Ethnicity often defines the boundaries for social and cultural interaction. Because of their selective character, migrant streams often alter the...

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