The impact of unionization and other factors on undocumented immigrant settlement patterns in the US

Abstract

In this study, we seek to add to the literature on undocumented immigrants by (1) identifying key determinants of the settlement patterns of undocumented immigrants and (2) testing a new hypothesis, what is referred to here as the ‘union-aversion hypothesis’. This hypothesis is elaborated upon in Section II of this study, but ultimately it argues that undocumented workers prefer to settle in states where the percentage of the labour force that is unionized is lower. Our findings suggest that the state-level settlement pattern of undocumented immigrants in the US is an increasing function of a state’s median family income level, the mean January temperature in a state and the relative size of the documented Hispanic population in the state, while being a decreasing function of the overall cost of living in the state. In addition, strong empirical support for the union-aversion hypothesis is obtained, namely the settlement pattern of undocumented immigrants is a decreasing function of the percentage of a state’s labour force that is unionized.