Type of Document	Dissertation
Author	Almalki, Ali Hassan
Author's Email Address	ama0661@fsu.edu
URN	etd-11122007-115956
Title	Labor Market Assimilation and Changes in Cohort Quality of Arab Immigrants in the United States: 1980-2000
Degree	Doctor of Philosophy
Department	Economics, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title David Macpherson Committee Chair Carl P. Schmertmann Committee Member Elwood Carlson Committee Member Frank Heiland Committee Member
Keywords	Labor Market Assimilation Arab Immigrants Cohort Quality Quasi-Panel Approach
Date of Defense	2007-10-24
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract Using samples of Integrated Public Use Micro-data Series (IPUMS) from the 1980, 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census, this dissertation focus on two main objectives: the first objective is to examine the labor market assimilation and changes in cohort quality of Arab immigrants (as a homogeneous group) in the United States during the period 1980-2000. The second objective is to examine the labor market assimilation and changes in cohort quality of different Arab immigrant groups (Arab immigrants from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gulf and North Africa) in the United States during the period 1980-2000. Two models, Cross-section and quasi-panel, are used in order to achieve these main objectives. The empirical analysis of the first objective of this dissertation reveals that Arab immigrants in the labor market of the United States experienced substantial assimilation rates between 1980 and 2000. Also, the results show that within-cohort growth is insignificantly smaller than the cross-section growth for most Arab immigrant cohorts during the 1980s, whereas the within-cohort growth is significantly smaller than the cross-section growth for most Arab immigrant cohorts during the 1990s. Therefore, I can argue that the quality of Arab Immigrant cohorts has not changed much during the 1980s and has declined during the 1990s. The analysis regarding the assimilation and changes in quality of Arab immigrants by their country of origin shows that there is a significant difference in the assimilation profiles among the seven Arab countries. Again, there are evidences that the quality of Arab Immigrant groups had not showed much change during the 1980s and 1990s. There are exceptions to this result, the case of Arab immigrants from Egypt and Arab immigrants from North Africa who may experience a quality decline during the 1990s because of their positive and significant (in most cases) across-cohort growths. Another exception is the case of Arab immigrants from Lebanon who may have been of increasing quality during the period of 1990s. Finally, the investigation of the sensitivity of estimates of assimilation shows that rates of assimilation of Arab immigrants are largely sensitive to the choice of base group which used to normalize for secular earnings growth. Estimates of assimilation are showed to be indifference to the selection of U.S. natives or Arab Americans as the base group.
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