Briefing

How Do College-Educated Immigrants Affect US Firms and Workers?

Abstract: We study the impact of hiring a college-educated immigrant through the H-1B lottery on the performance and hiring behavior of U.S. firms. When firms win the H-1B lottery, they expand in terms of employment and revenues. Lottery winners are also more likely to stay active. The firms that benefit the most from immigrant workers are small, high-productivity firms. A majority of existing workers at the firm benefit from being exposed to an H-1B coworker, but there are interesting dynamics across different types of workers that we further elucidate.

Keywords: immigration; H-1B lottery; labor market;

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

Part of Series: Richmond Fed Economic Brief

Publication Date: 2024-05-15

Volume: 24

Issue: 15