Do Ethnic Enclaves Impede or Facilitate Assimilation and Education? A Comparison Across Ethnicities and Geographies

Ethnic enclaves are locations in which a particular ethnic group resides in high concentrations. What effect does living in an enclave have on an immigrant's earnings and education? The existing literature has most often examined this question by looking at enclaves defined at the state, county, or metropolitan area level of geographic disaggregation. I improve upon this by looking at a finer level of geographic disaggregation, looking at specific neighborhoods within cities to define enclaves. Doing so allows for a clearer identification of the effects of ethnic enclaves on earnings and education. On average, living in an ethnic enclave leads to lower immigrant earnings, though Chinese, Iranian, Korean, and South Asian enclaves appear to increase earnings. This fine level of geographic disaggregation in my study also generates a large sample of ethnic enclaves across thirteen different source countries. I use this sample to evaluate how various characteristics of ethnic enclaves affect the earnings and education of immigrants who live in those enclaves. Immigrants who live in high skill enclaves tend to earn more than those in lower skill enclaves, even after controlling for an immigrants education. Immigrant earnings and education tend to be highest in enclaves in which the native population is younger and less likely to be married. There is some evidence that immigrants compete with natives in enclave labor markets, as immigrant earnings rise with native unemployment and fall with native labor force participation. Immigrant earnings tend to be higher in enclaves in which immigrants hold more managerial positions. The effects of other enclave characteristics such as immigrant assimilation, tenure in the United States, and English language ability vary across source countries, underscoring the need to not treat all immigrants as a homogenous group