Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • July 2015
  • Article
  • Journal of Labor Economics

Skilled Immigration and the Employment Structures of U.S. Firms

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and William F. Lincoln
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

We study the impact of skilled immigrants on the employment structures of U.S. firms using matched employer-employee data. Unlike most previous work, we use the firm as the lens of analysis to account for a greater level of heterogeneity and the fact that many skilled immigrant admissions are driven by firms themselves (e.g., the H-1B visa). OLS and IV specifications find rising overall employment of skilled workers with increased skilled immigrant employment by firm. Employment expansion is greater for younger natives than their older counterparts, and departure rates for older workers appear higher for those in STEM occupations compared to younger workers.

Keywords

Firms; Scientists; Engineers; Inventors; H-1B; Age; Employment; Immigration; United States

Citation

Kerr, Sari Pekkala, William R. Kerr, and William F. Lincoln. "Skilled Immigration and the Employment Structures of U.S. Firms." Journal of Labor Economics 33, no. S1 (July 2015): S147–S186.
  • Read Now

About The Author

William R. Kerr

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • November 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Will Fintechs and Central Banks Play in Emtech’s Sandbox?

    By: Daniel Isenberg and William R. Kerr
    • 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Centralization and Organization Reproduction: Ethnic Innovation in R&D Centers and Satellite Locations

    By: William R. Kerr
    • April 21, 2023
    • Harvard Business Review Digital Articles

    When Scenario Planning Fails

    By: Kalle Heikkinen, William R. Kerr, Mika Malin, Panu Routila and Eemil Rupponen
More from the Authors
  • Will Fintechs and Central Banks Play in Emtech’s Sandbox? By: Daniel Isenberg and William R. Kerr
  • Centralization and Organization Reproduction: Ethnic Innovation in R&D Centers and Satellite Locations By: William R. Kerr
  • When Scenario Planning Fails By: Kalle Heikkinen, William R. Kerr, Mika Malin, Panu Routila and Eemil Rupponen
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College