Destination Choice of the Newly Arrived Immigrants to the U.S. from 2000 to 2005–2007: A Multivariate Explanation for Immigrants from Top Source Countries

Abstract

Using the PUMS files of the 2000 U.S. Census and 2005–2007 merged ACS data, we study the metropolitan destination choices made by newly arrived immigrants from seven top source countries between 2000 and 2007. Using a multinomial logit model, we find that the dispersion of new immigrant groups varies by origin, although all groups were subject to 1) the attraction of co‐ethnic communities, and 2) the positive effects of labor market conditions in the destination (especially the employment growth rate). However, co‐ethnic concentration is much more important than labor market conditions in the destination choice decision, particularly for the poorly educated. Conversely, there is a strong negative effect of co‐ethnic concentration on highly educated new immigrants, revealing a dispersed geographical pattern of these highly educated immigrants. We also find the importance of employment share growth rate for highly educated immigrants which suggests that they are more sensitive to the upward employment structure at the destination than a specific job growth rate, and they may not be attracted by a metropolitan area with a low‐quality employment structure, despite whether there was an increase in high‐level jobs.

The Initial Residential Patterns of Immigrants across the Urban Hierarchy in Sweden: The Role of Educational Attainment

“…There are a number of shortcomings in the present body of work on residential sorting of international migrants. First, studies have primarily focused on identifying locational factors that determine migrants' settlement patterns across different contexts such as the US (Huang & Newbold 2017), Sweden © 2023 The Authors. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Dutch Geographical Society / Koninklijk Nederlands Aardrijkskundig Genootschap.…”

“…There are a number of shortcomings in the present body of work on residential sorting of international migrants. First, studies have primarily focused on identifying locational factors that determine migrants' settlement patterns across different contexts such as the US (Huang & Newbold 2017), Sweden (Åslund 2005), Denmark (Damm 2009), UK (Lymperopoulou 2013), Germany (Tanis 2020) and the Netherlands (Zorlu & Mulder 2008) and have consistently identified labour markets and co‐ethnic networks as the most important factors shaping migrants' preferences for initial settlement, while individual‐level factors have largely been ignored.…”

“…Migrants of different origins and with different grounds for settlement may have varying levels of resources and preferences that impact their residential settlement. Family migrants tend to join their settled family, while the settlement behaviour of other groups may be more strongly affected by labour market factors, the housing market, the presence of other migrants, and for some groups, settlement policy (Zorlu & Mulder 2008; Lymperopoulou 2013; Huang & Newbold 2017). As suggested by the aspirations‐capabilities framework (Carling 2002; De Haas 2021), some migrants may encounter constraints in realizing their residential preferences.…”