Wages in Europe and the New World Large-scale migration from Europe to the New World in America and Australia closed the wage gap between the two locations. In 1870 wages in the New World were almost three times as high as wages in Europe, whereas in 1910 they were about twice as high. Migration also slowed the growth of wages in the New World relative to what they would have been without migration and allowed for slightly faster growth of wages in Europe.

Source: Alan M. Taylor and Jeffrey G. Williamson, 1997, “Convergence in the Age of Mass Migration,” European Review of Economic History, 1, April, 27–63.