Cross-Country Variation in the Impact of International Migration: Canada, Mexico, and the United States

Abstract

Using data drawn from the Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. censuses, we find a numerically comparable and statistically significant inverse relation between immigrant-induced shifts in labor supply and wages in each of the three countries: A 10% labor supply shift is associated with a 3%‐4% opposite-signed change in wages. Despite the similarity in the wage response, theimpactofmigrationonthewagestructuredifferssignificantlyacrosscountries.International migration narrowed wage inequality in Canada; increased it in the United States; and reduced the relative wage of workers at the bottom of the skill distribution in Mexico. (JEL: J31, J61)