The Labor Market in the United States and Ottoman Immigrants: Evidence from the 1910 Census

Abstract

In the early twentieth century, due to huge economic development and labor demand in the United States it became the target of migration from countries with political and economic problems. The Ottoman Empire was also affected by migration outflows. However, the economic result of these migration flows in the United States and the assimilation of migrants are not sufficiently discussed by using quantitative methods from a labor market perspective. Based on detailed data on the 1910 Census of the United States, our study outlines how early migration affected the integration and assimilation of migrants from different ethnic origins, such as Turks, Jews. Our findings indicate that groups that came earlier, Jews and Armenians, had higher wages, so they did not have problems in remaining at the US.