Sunday, 14 October 2018: 9:00 AM
The Sub-Saharan African immigrant population in the United States has increased very rapidly over the past several decades to about 1.7 million persons by 2015. These immigrants are more likely than natives to be labor force participants and are much more likely than the native-born to be college graduates. Past research finds that a very high percentage of Sub-Saharan African immigrants in the United States have college degrees and that those with college degrees in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) have higher earnings than they would receive in other disciplines. This study uses a pooled-cross-section (2011-2016) from the American Community Survey that identifies detailed major fields of study. We build on past research by calculating dissimilarity indexes. These indexes, which compare the African immigrant distribution of academic majors to the native-born distribution, show significant differences between the two groups. Next, ordinary least square (OLS) regression is used to estimate earnings functions. In addition to the standard human capital related variables, the regression models include a vector of detailed college major variables and interactions between academic major and immigration status. The results indicate that majors in which African immigrants are over represented tend to lead to higher earnings, which suggests that many African immigrants posses skill sets that are in short supply. However, the regression results also show that once degree level and undergraduate major are controlled for, the estimated earnings of college-educated African immigrants is substantially less than the earnings of natives. In general, the results indicate that college graduate African immigrants help to fill skill vacuums in the United States, but that they may face barriers in the labor market that prevent them from achieving complete pay parity with native-born residents.