Differences in Earnings among Black and White African Immigrants in the United States, 1980–2000: A Cross-Sectional and Temporal Analysis

Abstract

This study examines the earnings of African immigrants across three waves of U.S. Census data (1980, 1990, and 2000). The authors find that the U.S. labor market favors White male immigrants, followed by Black male and White female immigrants, and finally Black women. The authors also find that male immigrants earned more per hour than female immigrants regardless of race. Considering change over time, this study finds that the earnings gap between Black and White male immigrants is growing larger over time, the positive association between foreign work experience and earnings is attenuated over time, and for women, the positive effect of earning a college degree on earnings is growing stronger over time. These findings confirm many of the conclusions reached by other race and gender scholars; however, the authors extend this work by focusing on male and female African immigrants, who are largely under-represented in the literature, and by examining change over time.

Africans in the American Labor Market

“…With respect to race, the advantage of being white relative to black is eliminated in the model that controls for human capital—a dramatic difference relative to the results for men, where the gap remained 24 %. In this respect, our results differ from Borch and Corra (2010), who documented high earnings for white women based on earlier waves of census data.…”

“…Overall, differences in earnings by country of birth and by race are much smaller for women than for men. With respect to country of birth, smaller differences for women than for men are also noted in work using earlier data (Borch and Corra 2010; Kollehlon and Eule 2003). With respect to race, the advantage of being white relative to black is eliminated in the model that controls for human capital—a dramatic difference relative to the results for men, where the gap remained 24 %.…”

“…Consider immigrants from Southern Africa, for whom earlier work has documented higher earnings (Borch and Corra 2010; Kollehlon and Eule 2003). In our overall models (Model 2), the earnings premiums are 26.5 % for men and 14.7 % for women from South Africa/Zimbabwe.…”

“…Borch and Corra (2010) compared earnings of black and white men and women at ages 25–64 who were born in Africa and living in the United States in 1980, 1990, and 2000, based on U.S. census data. They reported a significant white wage premium that was larger for men than for women when adjusted for covariates that included human capital controls, year, whether the person migrated before age 16, region of residence, and marital status.…”

“…Others have compared wages of foreign-born to U.S.-born blacks to gain insights into migrant adaptation and the role of racial discrimination (Borch and Corra 2010; Borjas 1999, Butcher 1994; Corra and Kimuna 2009; Dodoo 1997; Kollehlon and Eule 2003; Stewart and Dixon 2010). Wage differences for black male and female migrants from Africa relative to black migrants from the Caribbean and U.S.-born blacks have varied over time.…”