Research Scientist
First, worries regarding the huge influx of migrants from low-income countries do not seem warranted: the share of immigrant from low-income countries (as percentage of the total immigrant stock residing in the U.S.) is rather small (around three percent) and has remained steady over the period 2001-2017, both among the recent arrivals and the broader immigrant population.
On the other hand, there is a definite downward trend in the share of immigrants who originate from high-income OECD countries, as well as a similar downward trend for Mexicans, with the latter being particularly prominent among recent arrivals. There is a corresponding increase in the number of migrants from lower- and upper middle-income countries, especially from India and China.
We know that since the Great Recession, most immigrants are at least as likely to be employed as the average American native.
Conditional on being employed, immigrants are also more likely to work full time (30 hours or more per week) than employed natives, with the exception of high-income non-OECD country immigrants in the post-recession years, as well as Chinese immigrants in the last few years of the data.
Even if we account for the immigrant – native differences in education, occupations, geographic locations, and other reasons that explain the pay gap, we still see all immigrant groups except for those from high-income OECD countries earning less than comparable natives.
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