The city of Buenos Aires in the 1890s is an extreme case in immigration
history since the native workers accounted for less than one-third of the labour
force. In this paper, we look at the labour market performance of Argentineans visa`-vis the largest two immigrant groups, Italians and the Spaniards. We find that, on
average, Argentineans enjoyed higher wages, but workers specialised in particular
occupations by nationality. Immigrants clustered in occupations with lower salaries.
Despite higher literacy levels and the language advantage, Spaniards did not outperform Italians in earnings. Ethnic networks facilitated the integration of immigrants into the host society and played a role in the occupation selection of
immigrants. Our results suggest that Italian prosperity in Buenos Aires was not
based on superior earnings or skills but on older and powerful networks.
