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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Korpi, Martin (Ratio & EHFF); Clark, William (California Center for Population Research, UCLA) |
| Abstract: | Empirical studies on internal labor migration are usually based on observed patterns of net flows into local labor markets with relatively lower unemployment and relatively higher real wages. Evidence here suggests that internal migrants move to enhance returns to their labor. In contrast, major surveys in the USA, the UK and Australia show that less than a third of internal migrants are motivated primarily by employment reasons. A possible explanation for this disconnect revolves around average and individual outcomes from migration. Using a sample of 39 000 Swedish regional migrants, this paper addresses this disconnect by examining the distribution of short and long term migrant income changes, and the factors that predict their placement within this distribution. We show that returns to migration do matter, especially for the more educated migrants. Overall, however, about a third of all migrants had negative short term returns to migration and about 40 percent make below median gains even in the long run. The data support a view that average outcomes are an insufficient way to measure the role of human capital motivated migration. |
| Keywords: | migration; human capital; labor mobility; urban rural |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J61 R12 |
| Date: | 2013–08–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0213&r=mig |
| By: | Elda Luciana Pardede (Demographic Institute, FEUI); Rachmanina Listya (Demographic Institute, FEUI) |
| Abstract: | Characteristics of informal activity that are highly flexible in terms of working hours, barrier to entry, mobility, capital and skills requirement, have made informal jobs attractive for migrant workers in developing countries. Informal jobs are also theoretically claimed as a temporary position or transition for migrants who seek to work in more certain, formal jobs. Using individual’s jobs and migration history of adults obtained from the 2007 IFLS data from 2000--2007, this study aims to analyse how migration affects individual’s tendency to work in informal jobs by measuring the immediate effect of migration on the job's status. The result of clustered multinomial logit regression shows that individuals who migrate are less likely to work in informal job relative to formal job compared with individuals who do not migrate. This result contradicts the notion that migration is an act to look for opportunities with high uncertainty because migrants seem more likely to engage in formal jobs compared to non migrants. It may show that temporary positions into the formal jobs are not what the adult migrants in Indonesia are looking for. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Informal Sector, Employment, Indonesia |
| JEL: | J60 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lpe:wpecbs:201308&r=mig |
| By: | Stark, Oded; Jakubek, Marcin |
| Abstract: | We draw a distinction between the social integration and economic assimilation of migrants, and study an interaction between the two. We define social integration as blending into the host country's society, and economic assimilation as acquisition of human capital that is specific to the host country's labor market. We show that a non-integrated migrant finds it optimal to acquire a relatively limited quantity of human capital; with fellow migrants constituting his only comparison group, a non-integrated migrant does not have a relative deprivation-based incentive to close the income gap with the natives. However, when a migrant is made to integrate, his social proximity to the natives exposes him to relative deprivation, which in turn prompts him to form more destination-specific human capital in order to increase his earnings and narrow the income gap with the natives. In this way, social integration becomes a catalyst for economic assimilation. -- |
| Keywords: | Assimilation,Social proximity,Interpersonal comparisons,Relative deprivation,Human capital formation |
| JEL: | D01 F22 J15 J24 J61 O15 Z10 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuewef:59&r=mig |
| By: | Kugler, Maurice (United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)); Levintal, Oren (Bar-Ilan University); Rapoport, Hillel (Bar-Ilan University) |
| Abstract: | The gravity model has provided a tractable empirical framework to account for bilateral flows not only of manufactured goods, as in the case of merchandise trade, but also of financial flows. In particular, recent literature has emphasized the role of information costs in preventing larger diversification of financial investments. This paper investigates the role of migration in alleviating information imperfections between home and host countries. We show that the impact of migration on financial flows is strongest where information problems are more acute (that is, for more informational sensitive investments and between more culturally distant countries) and for the type of migrants that are most able to enhance the flow of information, namely, skilled migrants. We interpret these differential effects as additional evidence pointing to the role of information in generating home-bias and as new evidence of the role of migration in reducing information frictions between countries. |
| Keywords: | migration, international financial flows, international loans, gravity models, information asymmetries |
| JEL: | F21 F22 O1 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7548&r=mig |
| By: | Åslund, Olof (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Engdahl, Mattias (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies) |
| Abstract: | We study the labor market impact of opening borders to low-wage countries. The analysis exploits time and regional variation provided by the 2004 EU enlargement in combination with transport links to Sweden from the new member states. The results suggest an adverse impact on earnings of present workers in the order of 1 percent in areas close to pre-existing ferry lines. The effects are present in most segments of the labor market but tend to be greater in groups with weaker positions. The impact is also clearer in industries which have received more workers from the new member states, and for which across-the-border work is likely to be more common. There is no robust evidence on an impact on employment or wages. At least part of the effects is likely due to channels other than the ones typically considered in the literature. |
| Keywords: | migration policy; immigration; labor market outcomes |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2013–04–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2013_009&r=mig |
| By: | Butschek, Sebastian; Walter, Thomas |
| Abstract: | A growing body of programme evaluation literature recognises immigrants as a disadvantaged group on European labour markets and investigates the employment effects of Active Labour Market Pro-grammes (ALMPs) on this subgroup. Using a meta-analysis, we condense 93 estimates from 33 empir-ical studies of the effectiveness of four types of ALMPs employed across Europe to combat immigrant unemployment: training, job search assistance, and subsidised public and private sector employment. We find that only wage subsidies in the private sector can be confidently recommended to European policy-makers. -- |
| Keywords: | immigrants,unemployment,labour market integration,ALMP,evaluation,meta-analysis |
| JEL: | J15 J61 J68 I38 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:13056&r=mig |
| By: | Möllers, Judith; Meyer, Wiebke; Xhema, Sherif; Buchenrieder, Gertrud |
| Abstract: | Kosovo's small economy substantially relies on money from abroad: an extraordinarily high number of migrants contribute to foreign capital inflow through remittances; remittances represented around 13% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009. This means that the well-being of many Kosovar families financially depends on their migrated family members (UNDP 2010). The most important destination of Kosovar migrants, Germany, alone hosts an estimated number of around 300,000 Albanian migrants from Kosovo. This is about half of all migrated Kosovar Albanians. However, reliable information on the specific situation of the migrants and their origin households is scarce. Adding to recent efforts to gain more knowledge about Kosovo and its remittances sending migrants, e.g. the UNDP's 2010 Kosovo Remittance Study, this discussion paper puts a specific focus on rural Kosovo, where many migrants come from and more than half of the Kosovar population and two thirds of the poor live (World Bank and SOK 2011). Our study aims at shedding light on the socio-economic situation of Kosovar farm households with migrants in Germany. We present data on both sides of migration: the migrant household in the destination country as well as the remittances receiving household in Kosovo. In our analysis of migrant households, we present results on socio-economic features of three migration waves. Individual demographic characteristics of the migrant are analysed as well as economic features including the income situation and the remitting behaviour. We furthermore discuss the nature of migration - if it is planned as a temporary or permanent move - and the return prospects of the migrants. For the corresponding farm households in Kosovo we present results on their socio-economic situation and specifically look at poverty and inequality indicators and discuss possible development impacts in the recipient households. We analyse an original sample of 226 Albanian migrants from Kosovo who have been interviewed by means of a structured questionnaire in 2009/10 in Germany as well as the corresponding sample of their origin farm households in rural Kosovo. For a comparison of recipient with non-recipient households we draw from an additional set of 55 non-recipient Kosovar households. -- Die kosovarische Wirtschaft hängt stark von Geldflüssen aus dem Ausland ab. Eine hohe Zahl von Migranten tragen mit sogenannten Rücksendungen zu diesem Auslandskapital bei. Die Rücksendungen machen etwa 11% des Bruttoinlandsprodukts des Kosovo im Jahr 2009 aus. Das bedeutet, dass viele kosovarische Familien finanziell von ihren migrierten Familienmitgliedern abhängen. Das Hauptzielland von Migranten aus dem Kosovo ist Deutschland, wo allein geschätzte 300 000 albanische Migranten aus dem Kosovo zu verzeichnen sind, und somit in etwa die Hälftealler albanischen Migranten aus dem Kosovo. Genaue und belastbare Angaben über die Situation dieser Migranten und über die Situation ihrer Heimathaushalte sind bis heute nur schwer zu erlangen. Dieses Diskussionspapier stellt einige neue, empirisch basierte Erkenntnisse vor, indem es mit einem Fokus auf den ländlichen Raum des Kosovo einige wichtige Facetten ergänzt, die auch in anderen aktuellen Studien, beispielsweise die 2010 Kosovo Remittance Study der UNDP, angesprochen werden. Der ländliche Raum ist deshalb so wichtig, weil viele Migranten von hier stammen und etwa die Hälfte der Bevölkerung des Kosovo und zwei Drittel der armen Bevölkerung hier leben. Unsere Ergebnisse befassen sich mit der speziellen Situation kleinbäuerlicher Haushalte im Kosovo sowie der zu diesen Haushalten gehörigen Arbeitsmigranten in Deutschland. Es werden hierbei beide Seiten der Migration ins Auge gefasst, also sowohl die Migranten selbst als auch die Ursprungshaushalte aus dem ländlichen Kosovo, die von Rücksendungen profitieren. Im Bezug auf die Migranten präsentieren wir Ergebnisse im Hinblick auf drei Migrationswellen. Wir betrachten individuelle und haushaltsbasierte Migrationsmotive und geben Einblick in die soziökonomische Situation der Migranten. Wir gehen dabei auch auf die Dauer der Migration und die Rückkehrwahrscheinlichkeit ein. Die Ursprungshaushalte werden ebenfallsim Hinblick auf sozioökonomische Variablen hin analysiert. Wir diskutieren hier speziell die Wirkungen der Geldsendungen auf Armut, Ungleichheit und mögliche Entwicklungseffekte. Die Datenbasis unserer Analyse ergibt sich aus einem Sample von 226 albanischen Migrantenhaushalten aus dem Kosovo, die im Winter 2009/10 in Deutschland interviewt wurden. Ebenfalls Teil der Erhebung sind die dazugehörigen Ursprungshaushalte, die im Anschluss im Kosovo interviewt wurden. Für einen Vergleich von Geldsendungsempfängern und Haushalten die keine Geldsendungen erhalten, stützen wir uns auf einen ergänzenden Datensatz von 55 Nicht-Geldsendungsempfängern. |
| Keywords: | migration,remittances,Kosovo,rural households |
| JEL: | F22 F24 O15 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamodp:140&r=mig |
| By: | Peri, Giovanni (University of California, Davis); Romiti, Agnese (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg); Rossi, Mariacristina (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | Women contribute disproportionately to household production, especially in Southern European countries. As a consequence of population aging assistance to elderly parents, rather than child care, has become a prevalent activity in home-production services. Immigrant labor has increasingly become a substitute for women labor in those services. Their presence, therefore, may allow women over 55 to work more outside of the house and retire later. We use a unique database of Italian households to identify the effect of local availability of foreign workers on planned retirement age and labor supply of Italian women. We find that an exogenous increase by one point in the immigrant percentage of the local population increased the planned retirement age of women over 55 by two months relative to similar men. For women with old parents the increase was four months and if they were in low-wealth households the increase was one full year. The same inflow of immigrants also increased the probability that women over 55 work outside the home by nine percentage points, relative to men. |
| Keywords: | international migration, retirement, labor supply, home production, elderly care |
| JEL: | J22 J26 F22 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7549&r=mig |
| By: | Pierre-Philippe COMBES (Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS & EHESS); Bruno DECREUSE (Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS & EHESS); Morgane LAOUENAN (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES) and Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS & EHESS); Alain TRANNOY (Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS & EHESS) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the link between the over-exposure of African immigrants to unemployment in France and their under-representation in jobs in contact with customers. We build a two-sector matching model with ethnic sector-specifc preferences, economy-wide employer discrimination, and customer discrimination in jobs in contact with customers. The outcomes of the model allow us to build a test of ethnic discrimination in general and customer discrimination in particular. We run the test on French individual data in a cross-section of local labor markets (Employment Areas). Our results show that there is both ethnic and customer discrimination in the French labor market. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination, Matching frictions, Jobs in contact, Ethnic unemployment, Local labor markets |
| JEL: | J15 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2013016&r=mig |
| By: | Ari Kuncoro (Institute of Economic and Social Research University of Indonesia); Arie Damayanti (Graduate School of Economics, University of Indonesia); Ifa Isfandiarni (Institute of Economic and Social Research University of Indonesia) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of the paper is to examine the rationale of current institutional and governance structure and the roles of various public and private agencies involved in this process. The paper found that drawn by lucrative profits the industry has attracted many entrants which intensify competition among sending firms. The most obvious change brought by this development is the increase of recruitment costs. This has also affected the supply-demand imbalances which in turn has profound impacts on the distribution of values (rents) in the industry. Some of the increase in recruitment costs can also be attributed to the introduction of the law 39/2004 which formalizes the role of local recruiters (brokers) though it also provides some protection to workers. But the net benefits may not be great since sending firms can always shift the burdens to workers through salary deductions in the first few months of working contracts. The effort to create a new independent agency as mandated by the new law to provide implementing service, coordination and monitoring of international migrant workers has yet to bear fruit. A clear division of labor is needed, but due to the huge rents involved this may need political intervention from the highest level of government. |
| Keywords: | Indonesia Migrant Worker |
| JEL: | J61 O17 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lpe:wpecbs:201306&r=mig |
| By: | Dascher, Kristof |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that the more open a city is to immigration, the more likely it is to welcome -- and hence also receive -- foreign direct investment. If immigration is allowed to complement the inflow of foreign capital, urban rent rises by more. This extra rise in rent aids in appeasing owners of capital specific to local traditional industries who else become worse off as foreign direct investment flows in. The paper's model may help give a simple alternative explanation of why urban centers such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Dublin or many cities on China's Eastern coast have received so much more FDI per capita. These cities could draw on a nearby pool of extra labor that -- by driving rents up and keeping wages down -- may have been decisive in the political struggle over whether to let foreign direct investors in. |
| Keywords: | Foreign Direct Investment, Open City, Immigration, Urban Rent |
| JEL: | F11 F23 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–08–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:49197&r=mig |
| By: | Ersanilli, Evelyn; Koopmans, Ruud |
| Abstract: | The Six Country Immigrant Integration Comparative Survey (SCIICS) is a large-scale telephone survey conducted in 2008. The aim was to collect comparable data across European countries (the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, Austria and Sweden) with different integration policies as well as variation on other variables to enable testing for contextual effects. SCIICS was designed to maximize cross-national data comparability by reducing sources of confounding variance. It employs a double-comparative design which looks at two immigrant groups (Turks and Moroccans) and a comparison group of natives from the six countries mentioned above. The immigrant target groups have been narrowed down to people who migrated in the guest-worker era (before 1975) and their children and grandchildren who were either born in the survey country or moved there before turning 18. To further increase comparability, half of the sample is subjected to an additional regional selection criterion - having an origin in East- or Central Anatolian provinces in Turkey or the former Spanish protectorate in Morocco. The sample was drawn from online telephone directories using onomastic methods. Mobile phone numbers were included as much as possible. In total, nearly 9,000 completed surveys were collected (3,373 native; 3,344 Turkish origin; 2,204 Moroccan origin). This paper discusses the research design, challenges in data collection, and response rates. It also presents the questionnaires and sources of context data. -- Der Six Country Immigrant Integration Comparative Survey (SCIICS) ist eine großflächig angelegte 2008 durchgeführte Telefonumfrage. Mit dieser wurde das Ziel verfolgt vergleichbare Daten über mehrere europäische Länder hinweg zu sammeln (Niederlande, Deutschland, Frankreich, Belgien, Österreich und Schweden), welche sich in Bezug auf Regelungen im Bereich der Integration sowie anderer Variablen unterschieden, um das Überprüfen von Kontexteffekten zu ermöglichen. SCIICS wurde entworfen um zwischenstaatliche Datenvergleichbarkeit durch Reduktion von Varianzquellen zu maximieren. Es wurde ein Doppelvergleichsdesign verwendet, in welchem zwei Immigrantengruppen (Türken und Marokkaner) betrachtet wurden sowie eine Vergleichsgruppe aus Einheimischen aus den sechs genannten Ländern. Die Migrantenzielgruppen wurden auf jene Personen beschränkt, die während der Gastarbeiter-Ära (vor 1975) migriert sind, sowie deren Kinder und Enkel, die entweder im Befragungsland geboren wurden oder dort hingezogen sind bevor sie 18 Jahre alt waren. Um die Vergleichbarkeit weiter zu erhöhen, wurde auf die Hälfte der Stichprobe ein zusätzliches regionales Auswahlkriterium angewendet - Herkunft aus ost- oder zentralanatolischen Provinzen in der Türkei sowie aus dem ehemaligen spanischen Protektorat Marokko. Die Stichprobe wurde auf der Grundlage eines online Telefonverzeichnisses mittels onomastischer Methoden erstellt. Mobiltelefonnutzer wurden so viel wie möglich miteinbezogen. Insgesamt wurden knapp 9.000 Umfragen durchgeführt (3.373 Mehrheitsbevölkerung; 3.344 türkischer Herkunft, 2.204 marokkanischer Herkunft). Dieses Paper diskutiert das Forschungsdesign, Herausforderungen in der Datensammlung sowie Rücklaufquoten. Es stellt ebenfalls den Fragebogen und die Quellen der Kontextdaten dar. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wzbmit:spvi2013102&r=mig |