Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/223719 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13277
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Employment rates in the United States fell dramatically between February 2020 and April 2020 as the initial repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic reverberated through the labor market. This paper uses data from the CPS Basic Monthly Files to document that the employment decline was particularly severe for immigrants. Historically, immigrant men were more likely to be employed than native men. The COVID-related labor market disruptions eliminated the immigrant employment advantage. By April 2020, immigrant men had lower employment rates than native men. The reversal occurred both because the rate of job loss for at-work immigrant men rose relative to that of natives, and because the rate at which out-of-work immigrants could find jobs fell relative to the native job-finding rate. A small part of the relative increase in the immigrant rate of job loss arises because immigrants were less likely to work in jobs that could be performed remotely and suffered disparate employment consequences as the lockdown permitted workers with more "remotable" skills to continue their work from home.
Subjects: 
immigration
labor supply
COVID-19
JEL: 
J21
J61
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
466.9 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.