Job Vacancies and Immigration: Evidence from the Mariel Supply Shock

We use the Conference Board’s Help-Wanted Index (HWI) to document how immigrant supply shocks change the number of job vacancies. Our analysis reveals a sizable drop in Miami’s HWI relative to comparable cities in the first few years after the Mariel shock, followed by recovery afterward. An analysis of the text of the help-wanted ads also documents a significant decline in the relative number of low-skill vacancies advertised in the Miami Herald. Miami’s Beveridge curve shifted inward by the mid-1980s, suggesting a more efficient local labor market, in contrast to the outward nationwide shift coincident with the 1981–82 recession.