RWP 22-12, September 2022; updated February 2025
This paper examines how the U.S. immigration restrictions of the 1920s affected the wages of low-skilled workers using newly digitized annual wage data from 1910 to 1930. Exploiting variation across local labor markets, we find that wages for low-skilled workers rose faster in areas more affected by the restrictions. These wage effects emerged early in the 1920s and persisted throughout the decade across manufacturing, construction, and agricultural sectors. Our findings help explain previously documented internal migration patterns and demonstrate how reduced immigration affected labor markets through both direct supply effects and subsequent adjustment mechanisms.
JEL Classifications: J61, N31, N32
Article Citation
Cohen, Elior, and Jeff Biddle. 2022. “Immigration Restrictions and the Wages of Low-Skilled Labor: Evidence from the 1920s.” Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Research Working Paper no. 22-12, September. Available at External Linkhttps://doi.org/10.18651/RWP2022-12