In August, 2010, CBS News and Vanity Fair commissioned a national poll that asked 1082 people, ““Do you think illegal immigrants coming into this country take jobs away from American citizens, or do they mostly take jobs Americans don't want?” Nearly 90 percent of the respondents chose one of the two options offered but 34 people said they had no opinion on the subject and 105 volunteered that it was a bit of both. Suppose we drop the latter two groups and specify: Percent Figure 1. Attitudes about whether Immigrants take Jobs away from natives by education

Immigrants Take Jobs…All High School & less College & more Away42.5%52.6%33.6% Nobody else wants57.5%47.4%66.4%

“Conventional Model”

The Immigration Equation By Roger Lowenstein. The New York Times Magazine, July 9, 2006 Mannuel I. Immigrant from Guatemala. House Painter. Norma M. Immigrant from Mexico Housecleaner. Salvador C. Immigrant from Mexico. Construction. The question of whether “more job seekers from abroad mean fewer opportunities, or lower wages, for native workers -- is one of the most controversial ideas in labor economics.”

Figure 1. California Manicurists, Total Vietnamese Non-Vietnamese Number of Manicurists

Immigrants take jobs nobody wants Immigrants take jobs away Dichotomous Dependent Variable Specification where Latent attitudes about immigrants’ effects on native workers, ranging from people who strongly believe that immigrants take jobs that natives don’t want to those who strongly believe that immigrants take jobs away from natives.

Immigrants take jobs away from natives (1=yes) Means and Standard Deviations Linear Probability Model Probit ModelLogit Model (1)(2)(3) Immigrants take jobs away (1=yes)0.42 (0.494) income (thou of $) (45.31)(0.87)(0.86)(0.89) education (years) ***-0.084***-0.136*** (2.34)(3.99)(3.98)(3.94) age (years) (17.24)(0.10)(0.09) female (1=yes) (0.497)(1.29)(1.33)(1.34) Black (1=yes) (0.266)(1.22)(1.27)(1.26) Hispanic (1=yes) **-0.454**-0.765** (0.24)(2.29)(2.28)(2.26) Republican (1=yes) (0.455)(1.36)(1.35) Democrat (1=yes) **-0.282**-0.459** (0.478)(2.48)(2.54) Constant0.950***1.205***1.963*** (7.74)(3.67)(3.66) Observations847 R-squared Standard deviations and absolute value of t-statistics in parentheses * significant at 10%; ** significant at 5%; *** significant at 1% Table 1. Do Americans Think that Immigrants are Taking their Jobs Away?

gen missing=0 replace missing =1 if (TakeJobs ==. | income ==. | educ ==. | age ==. | female ==. | Black ==. | Hispanic ==. | Republican ==. | Democrat ==.) summarize TakeJobs income educ age female Black Hispanic Republican Democrat if missing==0 probit TakeJobs income educ age female Black Hispanic Republican Democrat

^ Non-Hispanic / Non-Democrats Figure 1. Differences in Opinions Concerning Whether Immigrants Take Jobs Away?

Suppose

Percent Frequency Distribution by Education

Percent Predicted Probabilities by Education using Ordered Probit