Job Market Paper: “The effects of parental job loss on college enrollment and dropout in the US”

I use longitudinal data of the Survey of Income and Program Participation from 2008 to 2023 to study the effect of parental involuntary job loss on college enrollment and dropout of the youth in the US. Results indicate that an involuntary job loss of the main income-earning parent in January to May and September to December reduces the probability of enrollment by 6 and 7.6 percentage points, respectively, and increases the probability of dropout by 10.3 and 16.2 percentage points, respectively. The probability of enrollment decreases, and the probability of dropout increases by 11.1 to 23.5 and 52 percentage points, when both parents experience involuntary job loss during the same year. A possible explanation is that short-term credit constraints following a job loss play a role in limiting parents' ability to finance their offspring's college education in the US.

Working Papers: 

“Wage advantage and selection of Indian immigrants in the US” [under review with the ILR Review]

I study the wage gap between Indian immigrants in the United States and residents of India. Using data from the 2011 and 2021 American Community Surveys and India’s Employment-Unemployment Survey (2011–12) and Periodic Labour Force Survey (2020–21), I adjust the wage density of residents of India to reflect the observable characteristics of Indian immigrants in the US, applying the DiNardo, Fortin, and Lemieux (1995) reweighting method. I find that differences in skills explain 24 to 36 percent of the wage gap for males and 37 to 48 percent for females. This indicates a difference in skills selection between male and female migrants or selection into labor force participation.

“Indian Immigrant Labor Markets: A Comparative Study of Wages in Canada and the USA” 

[Co-authored with Mriga Bansal]

This paper examines the wage differentials between Indian immigrants in the United States and Canada, focusing on how differences in immigration policies and labor market structures impact earnings. Using data from the 2021 Canadian Census, the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS), and the Indian Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS) 2020-21, we compare the wages of Indian immigrants in both host countries to those of Indian residents. We employ the DiNardo, Fortin, and Lemieux (DFL) decomposition to separate the effects of skill endowments and returns to skills. Our results indicate that Indian immigrants in the United States earn significantly higher wages than their counterparts in Canada, with a greater share of this wage advantage attributable to higher returns to skills rather than differences in educational attainment or experience. The U.S. system, which relies on employer sponsorship, appears to facilitate better skill-job matching, whereas Canada’s points-based system, despite selecting highly educated immigrants, results in lower wage returns due to factors such as credential recognition barriers and wage compression.