Native internal migration and the labor market impact of immigration

This pal)er presents a theoretical and empirical study of how immigration influences the joint determination of the wage structure and internal migration behavior for native-born workers in local labor markets. Using data from the 1960-2000 decennial censuses, the study shows that immigration is associated with lower in-migration rates, higher out-migration rates, and a decline in the growth rate of the native workforce. The native migration reponse attenuates the measured impact of immigration oil wages in a local labor market by 40 to 60 percent, defending oil whether the labor market is defined at the state or metropolitan area level.