Measuring the Net Migration of Immigrants to U.S. Metropolitan Areas¹

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Greenwood, Michael J.^a | Ragland, Shannon E.^a

Affiliations: [a] Center for Economic Analysis, Campus Box 257, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA

Note: [1] This study was supported by Grant 89ASPE218A from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. We are grateful to Gary L. Hunt for numerous comments concerning the research reported in this paper, and to Xirun Liu for her assistance.

Abstract: Net migration of immigrants to U.S. metropolitan areas cannot be measured directly because many immigrants, by some estimates as high as 30%, subsequently emigrate from the U.S., thus escaping the ability of federal authorities to locate their whereabouts. Without an accurate measure of immigrant out-migration, net migration cannot be calculated. This study employs cohort survival techniques to indirectly estimate immigrant and native net migration, 1970–1980, for 119 specific metropolitan areas. Several checks are performed to confirm the accuracy of the estimates, which appear to be reasonable.

DOI: 10.3233/JEM-1991-173-410

Journal: Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, vol. 17, no. 3-4, pp. 233-248, 1991