The Effect of Foreign and Domestic Graduate Degrees on the Earnings of Immigrants to the U.S.

Abstract

Using a novel panel dataset of recent immigrants to the United States, we identify return migration rates and earnings trajectories for two immigrant groups: those with foreign graduate degrees and those who immigrate and acquire a U.S. graduate degree. We focus on immigrants (of both genders) to the United States who arrive in the same entry cohort and from the same country of birth over the period 2005–2015. In linked demographic and administrative data, we find that downward earnings trajectories are predictive of return migration for immigrants with degrees acquired abroad. Meanwhile, immigrants with U.S. graduate degrees experience mainly upward earnings mobility while in the United States, but we find that the return migrants in this population have earnings that, on average, are lower than their permanent counterparts.