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WASHINGTON — Most undocumented workers from Mexico had jobs there before they entered the United States, according to a report released Tuesday.

That conclusion undercuts a long-held explanation for illegal immigration: that people can't find work at home. Instead, illegal entrants are driven here by a complex assortment of factors, including higher wages, better working conditions and a chance to reunite with growing networks of families who settled in the United States before them, according to researchers with the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington.

"Lack of work does not appear to be the main reason why migrants leave Mexico for the United States," the report says.

It was based on a survey of 4,836 Mexican immigrants in Dallas; Raleigh, N.C.; Los Angeles; New York; Chicago; Atlanta; and Fresno, Calif. The survey was conducted from July 12, 2004, to Jan. 28, 2005. This is the latest in a series of reports based on the questionnaire.

An estimated 6.3 million Mexicans are thought to be living illegally in the United States, part of a larger illegal immigrant population in excess of 11 million. At least 3.5 million Mexicans here illegally hold U.S. jobs, constituting about 20 percent of the country's Hispanic work force.

Illegal Mexican entrants usually have been portrayed as desperate job seekers without options in their own country. But of the Mexican immigrants surveyed who'd been in the United States for two years, only 5 percent said they were unemployed before venturing north of the border.

The lure of higher wages appears to be a big incentive. Although illegal Mexican immigrants draw a median income here of only $300 a week — less than half that of U.S. workers — those earnings easily surpass the $100 to $120 a week they average at home.

"You can see people roughly doubling their earnings here," said Rakesh Kochhar, the Pew center's associate director for research.

The researchers said immigration status apparently had little impact on chances for employment in the United States. "Overall, low education levels, weak English-language skills and lack of a U.S. government-issued ID do not seem to pose barriers to finding work in the U.S.," the report said.

Mexican immigrants have little trouble finding jobs. They rely heavily on tips from friends and relatives in the United States. Younger, better-educated immigrants sometimes use the Internet, the survey indicates.

The immigrants fulfill a "steady and strong demand" from U.S. employers, the report says. At least two-thirds find jobs in four industries that historically are dependent on migrant labor: agriculture, construction, manufacturing and hospitality.

Construction is the dominant industry for hiring migrants in Atlanta, Dallas and Raleigh. It's manufacturing in Chicago, hospitality in New York and agriculture in Fresno.