Historical, longitudinal data are used to track the earnings of cohorts of immigrant and U.S.- born women over time …. The longitudinal data circumvent potential cohort biases that afflict cross-sectional analyses of immigrant earnings …

arrived immigrants. Many factors that have a negative effect on entry earnings also increase either the incentive or the … not immediately valued in the U.S. labor market are useful to the acquisition of U.S. skills. Thus entry earnings are not … initial immigrant earnings and subsequent earnings growth. This result – which persists even after accounting for differences …