Network composition, quality, and the labor market integration of immigrants in the U.S.

Welcome to a CEDAR seminar with Jonas Helgertz, Centre for Economic Demography, Department of Economic History, Lund University.

Network composition, quality, and the labor market integration of immigrants in the United States, 1860-1950

During the 19th and early 20th century, millions of Europeans left their country of origin in the quest for better fortunes on the other side of the Atlantic. While far from everybody were successful, the U.S. during this time still became labeled as the Land of Opportunity. On average, many immigrant groups from Europe have also been demonstrated to have integrated very well socioeconomically. For example, Abramitzky et al. (2014) found that Swedish immigrants had a relatively low occupational earnings gap compared to native-born upon arrival and that this gap decreased – yet never closed – for permanent first-generation immigrants.

Most recently, Casillo and Helgertz (2024) examine how access to Swedish- and Scandinavian networks influenced the earnings scores of recent Swedish immigrants to the U.S. between 1900 and 1920. Their findings suggest that language and cultural similarities between these nationalities appears to have facilitated the transmission of information that facilitated labor market integration.

Extending on the findings by Castillo and Helgertz (2024), we will advance the knowledge concerning the role of networks along several dimensions.

All interested are welcome to participate. If you want to participate digitally, please contact Mojgan to receive a meeting link.