LAUSR

Significance Do net returns to early investments in skill acquisition explain patterns of occupational specialization among immigrants? We design an empirical analysis of nationally representative data to show that age at immigration and mother tongue influence course-taking patterns in high school and college major choice. Immigrant children with greater relative endowments in nonlanguage skills specialize in math and science course credits over English and are more likely to pursue science-, technology-, engineering-, and math-intensive subjects in college. This reveals the early influence of comparative advantage over immigrant career choices and economic assimilation in the United States. We provide empirical evidence of immigrants’ specialization in skill acquisition well before entering the US labor market. Nationally representative datasets enable studying the academic trajectories of immigrant children, with a focus on high-school course-taking patterns and college major choice. Immigrant children accumulate skills in ways that reinforce comparative advantages in nonlanguage intensive skills such as mathematics and science, and this contributes to their growing numbers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. These results are compatible with well-established models of skill formation that emphasize dynamic complementarities of investments in learning.