Does Skin Tone Matter? Immigrant Mobility in the U.S. Labor Market

A rich literature has documented the negative association between dark skin tone and many dimensions of U.S.-born Americans' life chances. Despite the importance of both skin tone and immigration in the American experience, few studies have explored the effect of skin tone on immigrant assimilation longitudinally. I analyze data from the New Immigrant Survey (NIS) 2003 to examine how skin tone is associated with occupational achievement at three time points: the last job held abroad, the first job held in the United States, and the current job. Dark-skinned immigrants experience steeper downward mobility at arrival in the United States and slower subsequent upward mobility relative to light-skinned immigrants, net of human and social capital, race/ethnicity, country of origin, visa type, and demographics. These findings shed light on multiple current literatures, including segmented assimilation theory, the multidimensionality of race, and the U.S. racial hierarchy.