Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The political rhetoric on immigration in the United States often misrepresents the U.S.-Mexico migration trends by focusing on the flow of Mexican immigrants to the United States. Instead, the reality can be captured with a more nuanced measure: length-of-stay in the U.S. Since economic opportunities traditionally drive immigration, it is likely that they also drive decisions regarding length-of-stay in a host country. This paper examines the extent to which hourly wages earned during Mexican immigrants’ last U.S. trip may have contributed to the length of time that they lived in the U.S. Using individual-level survey data on Mexican household heads from the Mexican Migration Project, I find that wages are positively correlated with length-of-stay. I also find that the relationship between wages and length-of-stay differs for documented and undocumented immigrants. These findings suggest a need to incorporate nuanced measures of migration patterns when forming immigration policies.