Does increasing a state's minimum wage induce migration into the state? Previous literature has shown mobility in response to welfare benefit differentials across states, yet few have examined the minimum wage as a cause of mobility. Focusing on low-skilled immigrants, this paper empirically examines the effect of minimum wages on location decisions within the United States. This paper expands upon minimum wage and immigration literatures by demonstrating that the choice of destination is sensitive to minimum wage changes, and that the effects are highly dependent on the number of years an immigrant has resided in the U.S. JEL classification codes: J15, J61
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In this study I examine the impact of fluctuations in the unemployment rate before high school graduation on educational attainment measured 30 years later. I find evidence that educational attainment is countercyclical, as found in other studies, but also find that the impact of the unemployment rate varies across the ability distribution. Using data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this analysis identifies individuals who are on the boundary between pursuing and not pursuing additional education. Exposure to a higher unemployment rate at age 17 is associated with higher educational attainment for men in the 60-80th quintile of the ability distribution. There is little to no evidence of an effect beyond this quintile -highlighting the heterogeneous impacts of higher unemployment on educational attainment.
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