Yeah the discrepancy comes from assuming that immigrants in a category would earn the same as natives in that category. The first problem is that there’s substantial occupational downgrading; immigrants almost always work in lower-paid occupations than their pre-migration occupation. The second problem is that even within the same occupation, immigrants tend to have lower wages than natives (although they also have faster wage growth).
The Hendricks and Schoellman paper, in contrast, focuses on getting immigrants to the US to report their own wages before and after migration—so I think it’s a better reference on the wage gains from migration than comparing average wages.
Yeah the discrepancy comes from assuming that immigrants in a category would earn the same as natives in that category. The first problem is that there’s substantial occupational downgrading; immigrants almost always work in lower-paid occupations than their pre-migration occupation. The second problem is that even within the same occupation, immigrants tend to have lower wages than natives (although they also have faster wage growth).
The Hendricks and Schoellman paper, in contrast, focuses on getting immigrants to the US to report their own wages before and after migration—so I think it’s a better reference on the wage gains from migration than comparing average wages.