The educational attainment of immigrants: Changes over time

Using data pooled across four Current Population Surveys from 1979 to 1988, this paper analyzes the differences in the level and inequality of schooling across immigrant cohorts that differ by period of arrival and region of origin. The decline in schooling attainment of immigrants observed in the 1970s is reversed in the 1980s, as the schooling level of the most recent cohorts has increased. The increase in the 1980s is found among immigrants as a group and among European/Canadian and Asian immigrants but not among Mexican and other Latin American immigrants. The inequality of schooling has been greater among immigrants arriving in the last 20 years compared to earlier post-war cohorts, in part, because of the increasing share among immigrants of the highly educated Asians and low educated Mexican immigrants. Moreover, the inequality of schooling among the foreign born within regions of origin and period of immigration has also exceeded that of the native born.