Place of education, gender disparity, and assimilation of immigrant scientists and engineers earnings

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Many existing studies have demonstrated the earnings disadvantage of immigrants in U.S. labor market. When examining the mechanism of such disadvantage, previous research has pointed to the factor of lower human capital as a portion of immigrants completed their education before immigration. This study builds on the previous research and further investigates both place of college and where they completed education on the earnings among immigrant scientists and engineers. In addition to the human capital, this study captures factors pertaining to acculturation. Using data from Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT), I divide the immigrant scientists and engineers into fully foreign-educated, fully U.S.-educated and mixed foreign- and U.S.-educated groups. These categories are regressed against the native-born in a full sample and subsamples of men and women, respectively. The full-sample analysis shows that immigrant scientists and engineers who have received their college education abroad are at an earnings disadvantage, regardless of whether they completed their higher degrees in or outside the United States. However, their earnings can rise faster than their native-born peers if they completed their education in the United States. The results suggest that attending college and/or pre-college in U.S. plays a more substantial role in closing the earnings gap between immigrants and non-immigrants among scientists and engineers. Gender-specific analyses reveal that the earnings gap between immigrants and native-born women is narrower than that between their male counterparts, showing gender may play a more salient role in earnings disadvantage than immigrant status.