Extension Research on Great Migration of African Americans and the Impact on Their Salary

Abstract

The Great Migration from the South involved millions of African-Americans who moved north. This movement had significant social and economic ramifications, but its effect on labour markets in the North has been largely neglected. This paper shows that the Great Migration reduced wages considerably for blacks, but had minimal effect on whites. This is demonstrated using both local pay comparison and structural simulations, which reveal that the Great Migration had a considerable influence on North-South wage disparities. The paper also examines how immigration and wages are related, and how this relationship can be assessed, using both local and aggregate data.