This paper presents an empirical analysis of the impact of the Mariel
Boatlift on the Miami labor market, focusing on the effects on wages and
unemployment rates of less-skilled workers. The Mariel immigrants
increased the population and labor force of the Miami metropolitan area by
6-7 percent. Most of the immigrants were relatively unskilled: as a
result, the proportional increase in labor supply to less-skilled
occupations and industries was probably much greater. Nevertheless, an
analysis of wages of non-Cuban workers in Miami over the 1979-85 period
reveals virtually no effect of the Mariel influx. Likewise, there is no
indication that the Boatlift lead to an increase in the unemployment rates
of less-skilled blacks or other non-Cuban workers. Even among the Cuban
population wages and unemployment rates of earlier immigrants were not
substantially effected by the arrival of the Mariels.