TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessing human capital transferability into the U.S. labor market among latino immigrants to the United States
AU - Flores, Nadia Y.
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - Scholars have questioned whether international migrants from Latin America are able to transfer their levels of education into the U.S. labor market. In this article, the author examines the data from the Latin American Migration Project for Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua to observe the ability of each of the immigrant groups to convert prior education into occupational attainments within the U.S. labor market. Results show intercountry differences in the ability of the immigrants to translate educational attainments into occupational outcomes. Nicaraguans are by far the most educated and are much better able to translate home country schooling into highly skilled U.S. occupations. However, findings reveal that Nicaraguans have received more of an occupational benefit from having legal documents. The author argues that in addition to divergent patterns of educational selectivity, the contrasting treatment of Nicaraguans and Mexicans by U.S. immigration law seems to be responsible, at least in part, for their very different positions in the U.S. labor market.
AB - Scholars have questioned whether international migrants from Latin America are able to transfer their levels of education into the U.S. labor market. In this article, the author examines the data from the Latin American Migration Project for Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua to observe the ability of each of the immigrant groups to convert prior education into occupational attainments within the U.S. labor market. Results show intercountry differences in the ability of the immigrants to translate educational attainments into occupational outcomes. Nicaraguans are by far the most educated and are much better able to translate home country schooling into highly skilled U.S. occupations. However, findings reveal that Nicaraguans have received more of an occupational benefit from having legal documents. The author argues that in addition to divergent patterns of educational selectivity, the contrasting treatment of Nicaraguans and Mexicans by U.S. immigration law seems to be responsible, at least in part, for their very different positions in the U.S. labor market.
KW - Demography
KW - Education
KW - Immigration policy
KW - Labor and migration
KW - Latin American migration
KW - Sociology of work
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77954221475&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0002716210368110
DO - 10.1177/0002716210368110
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77954221475
SN - 0002-7162
VL - 630
SP - 196
EP - 204
JO - Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
JF - Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
IS - 1
ER -