For years, corporations in the United States have criticized the native workforce for not having enough qualified workers who are skilled in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Changing the immigration system could solve their problem. Current debates about how to best accomplish this task stem from different perceptions of whether high-skill immigrants adapt to the labor market, suffer from labor market disadvantages or meet rapid earnings growth. This study examines the initial wage gap immigrants working in the scientific research, development and testing services industry face upon entry to the United States as well as their income assimilation patterns. Ultimately, this paper provides evidence of a wage gap in this industry for recently arrived immigrants and otherwise similar natives, as well as confirms that the earnings for male immigrants in the industry tend to converge toward native levels the longer they remain in the country. Therefore, these results can provide valuable perspective on present immigration debates about whether to reduce immigration levels or change the skill composition of new immigrants.

In this dissertation I study the labor market behavior of sciences and engineering (S&E) doctorates trained and employed in the US. The first essay is an empirical study of task-to-task transitions based on the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (1973-2001). It first assesses the relevance of the careers of doctorates to S&E in general, and research and development (R&D) in particular. Second, it evaluates the participation rates and mobility patterns of doctorates in careers of different types using a transition model with independent competing risks. The second essay extends the empirical framework described above and specifies a dynamic model of occupational choices with symmetric learning about one of the task- specific abilities and dependence on past performance to explain the empirical career patterns described in the first essay. The predictions of the model are used to evaluate the effects of two counterfactual experiments on the supply of research skill. The third essay studies geographic choices for first employment of doctorates using the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) 1957-2005. Decisions of Americans, Canadians, and third country nationals to stay in the US after their PhD versus moving to Canada are compared. Individual characteristics and differences in political and economic conditions and career opportunities in the US versus Canada are evaluated to explain the observed differences in the choice of location. / Thesis (Ph.D, Economics) -- Queen's University, 2009-08-31 11:33:27.809