TY - JOUR T1 - The Effect of Literacy on Immigrant Earnings JF - Journal of Human Resources JO - J Hum Resour SP - 380 LP - 410 DO - 10.3368/jhr.XLI.2.380 VL - XLI IS - 2 AU - Ana Ferrer AU - David A. Green AU - W. Craig Riddell Y1 - 2006/03/31 UR - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/XLI/2/380.abstract N2 - We examine the impact of literacy on immigrant earnings and the sources of lower returns to education and experience among immigrants. We find that the native-born literacy distribution dominates that for immigrants. However, the two groups obtain similar returns to literacy skills, contrary to discrimination-based explanations for immigrant—native-born earnings differentials. Among the university-educated, literacy differences account for about two-thirds of the earnings gap. However, low returns to foreign experience have a larger impact on this differential. Among the less educated, literacy differences and differences in the returns to experience have similar effects on the earnings differential. ER -