Patterns of Economic Attainment of Foreign-Born Male Workers in the United States

This article is concerned with the economic attainment patterns of foreign-born male workers in the United States in 1980. The economic attainment patterns of males born in 92 countries of the world are examined and are compared among themselves, as well as among the seven principal U.S.-born groups of Anglos, Afro-American, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, Asian Americans, and American Indians. For all foreign-born groups, the article examines the degree to which such individual-level factors as educational attainment, labor market experience, and so forth account for their variation in economic attainment. We conclude that although microlevel characteristics are not the complete answer, they are important for most foreign-born populations in explaining their variation in earnings.