The Entry into the U.S. Labor Market of Antebellum European Immigrants, 1840–1860

Abstract

This study examines the occupational mobility of antebellum immigrants as they entered the U.S. White collar, skilled, and semi-skilled immigrants left unskilled jobs more rapidly after arrival than farmers and unskilled workers. British and German immigrants fared better than the Irish; literate immigrants in rapidly growing counties and places with many immigrants fared best. These findings have implications for (1) the accuracy of estimates of immigrant occupational mobility; (2) the size of the human capital transfer resulting from antebellum immigration; and (3) the causes of the difficulty experienced by some immigrant groups in transferring their skills to the U.S.

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“…However, under the assumption that the unskilled category is the least desirable, the data show that occupational upgrading occurred for a large fraction of those who had held unskilled occupations in Europe; less than 25 percent of those who entered the country as unskilled workers were still in those occupations by 1895. The fraction of immigrants moving out of unskilled occupations is substantially higher than documented by Ferrie (1997) in the Antebellum United States. Ferrie (1997) nds that about half of the immigrants arriving to the United States in the 1840-1850 period were still working as unskilled workers by 1860.…”

“…The fraction of immigrants moving out of unskilled occupations is substantially higher than documented by Ferrie (1997) in the Antebellum United States. Ferrie (1997) nds that about half of the immigrants arriving to the United States in the 1840-1850 period were still working as unskilled workers by 1860. Indeed, even when excluding Irish immigrants, who had the worst outcomes among all immigrant groups, from the U.S. data, 25 A limitation of these data is that the accuracy of the occupation declared upon arrival has been questioned.…”

“…Then, unlike Ferrie (1997), I am unfortunately unable to observe an immigrant both in the 1869 and 1895 censuses and in the passenger lists.…”

“…From a methodological point of view, this article is closely related to Joseph P. Ferrie (1997) and Ran Abramitzky, Leah Platt Boustan, and Katherine Eriksson (2014). Ferrie (1997) links records of ship arrivals of immigrants to U.S. censuses in the Antebellum period to look at the occupational mobility of immigrants relative to Europe.…”

“…Ferrie (1997) links records of ship arrivals of immigrants to U.S. censuses in the Antebellum period to look at the occupational mobility of immigrants relative to Europe. The author nds that immigrants, in particular those from Britain and Germany, experienced relatively high rates of upward occupational mobility during this time period.…”