In Maine, refugees with good English skills at arrival earn the highest wages irrespective of educational attainment in their home country. This study of the labour market in Portland from 1996 to 2000 finds that amongst refugee men, the best predictor for higher wages is English proficiency, but for women education is an important factor. In the local economy, refugee women are over-represented as entrepreneurs. Amongst men who are not self-employed, age at arrival and work experience in the source country have no significant impact on wages. For both men and women, belonging to an established ethnic group yields beneficial effects in securing higher paid first jobs, but our qualitative research shows that it is social connections with the white community that translate into longer run success. Finally, for both men and women, it appears that the tightening labour market contributed to higher wages in the period studied.

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educational attainment refugee migrants experience language labor market United States labor participation