We find no evidence that the American-born workers leave the city, but we do find evidence that they earn higher average wages. The increase in immigrants' share of employment is associated with higher wages as well as employment of U.S.-born workers, overall in the cities with more immigrants.

Foreign-born workers do not substitute perfectly for, and therefore do not compete with, most native-born workers. Rather, the complementary nature of the skills, occupations, and abilities of foreign-born workers increases the productivity of natives, stimulates investment, and enhances the choices available to consumers.

Giovanni Peri

As a consequence, they do not harm wages in law, education and the social sciences, where most native-born Americans thrive. Foreign-born engineers and scientists have particularly been interested in working in the U.S. In contrast, U.S.-born employees with doctorates are more likely to specialize in law, education and the social sciences.

Giovanni Peri

The consensus view is that immigration has a negative impact on the real wages of native workers. We have shown that the effects of immigration on the average wages of (U.S.) natives indeed turn positive and large.

Giovanni Peri