This paper responds to the resurgence of immigration in the United States, its impact on the labor market, and the implications for native workers.  To establish the history of immigration in the U.S., the paper makes extensive use of the microdata provided by the decennial censuses between 1960 and 2000, and provides a summary of U.S. immigration policy.  Considerable detail is given to the labor and immigration trends, and evolving demographics of immigrant workers in the United States.  This report presents an empirical analysis of the labor market consequences of these trends in the number, geographic distribution, and skills of immigrants.

The report addresses four central questions in the economics of immigration:

1)  What are the long-run trends in the relative performance of immigrants in the labor market?

2)  What is the impact of immigration on the labor market opportunities of native workers?

3)  How do native workers adjust to the labor market consequences of immigration?

4)  How large are the economic benefits accruing from the immigrant-induced increase in labor supply?