TY - UNPB
T1 - Low-Wage Jobs, Foreign-Born Workers, and Firm Performance
AU - Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina
AU - Arenas Arroyo, Esther
AU - Mahajan, Parag
AU - Schmidpeter, Bernhard
PY - 2025/9
Y1 - 2025/9
N2 - How do migrant workers impact firm performance? We exploit an unexpected Change in firms’ likelihood of securing low-wage workers through the U.S. H-2B visa program to address this question. Using comprehensive administrative data, we find that access to H-2B workers raises firms’ annual revenues and survival likelihood. We do not find evidence of crowding out of non-H-2B workers or negative spillover effects on competitor firms. Our results support the notion that formal guest worker programs can mitigate labor shortages while limiting harm to incumbent workers.
AB - How do migrant workers impact firm performance? We exploit an unexpected Change in firms’ likelihood of securing low-wage workers through the U.S. H-2B visa program to address this question. Using comprehensive administrative data, we find that access to H-2B workers raises firms’ annual revenues and survival likelihood. We do not find evidence of crowding out of non-H-2B workers or negative spillover effects on competitor firms. Our results support the notion that formal guest worker programs can mitigate labor shortages while limiting harm to incumbent workers.
KW - guest workers
KW - migrants
KW - employment
KW - firm dynamics
KW - H-2B visa
U2 - 10.57938/a16cd7c6-6567-46b2-8480-34188c794b35
DO - 10.57938/a16cd7c6-6567-46b2-8480-34188c794b35
M3 - WU Working Paper and Case
T3 - Department of Economics Working Paper Series
BT - Low-Wage Jobs, Foreign-Born Workers, and Firm Performance
PB - WU Vienna University of Economics and Business
CY - Vienna
ER -