Emigration from Two Labor Frontier Nations: A Comparison of Moroccans in Spain and Mexicans in the United States

Abstract

Mexico and Morocco share many common characteristics as labor migrant pools for industrialized countries to the North. However, comparisons between migrants from each country are few, particularly with respect to economic outcomes using nationally representative data. Using recent immigrant surveys from Spain and the United States, this paper presents the first quantitative analysis to compare Moroccans and Mexicans, testing for the effects of human and social capital on employment, occupational attainment, and wages. Although the lower employment levels of Moroccans compared to Mexicans would seem to suggest greater labor market discrimination against Moroccans in Spain, closer inspection of the returns to various forms of capital and other inputs yields a more mixed picture. Both methodological and social explanations for these mixed findings are discussed.