|
on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Hermansen, Are Skeie; Madsen, Aleksander Å. (University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | Childhood immigrants face developmental constraints related to the acquisition of skills required to succeed in advanced economies. We study how age at arrival shapes earnings potential, worker productivity, and labor market sorting. Drawing on administrative data from Norway, we employ a sibling comparison design to identify the effects of age at arrival on a broad set of adult labor market outcomes. Our analysis shows that later arrival has progressively negative effects across the earnings distribution—although concentrated among low earners; increases sorting into physically demanding occupations with lower communicative, socioemotional, and math–logic skill requirements; reduces full-time work; and lowers access to high-paying employers. A formal decomposition indicates that differences in educational qualifications, work hours, and sorting into math–logic intensive occupations are key mediators of the age-at-arrival effect on earnings. Together, these findings document how immigration at later developmental stages has lasting consequences for skill specialization and economic assimilation. For childhood immigrants, even modest delays in country-specific human capital acquisition can lead to misalignment between their skills and the productivity demands and reward structures of knowledge-intensive labor markets. |
| Date: | 2025–07–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:mg8wu_v1 |
| By: | Torres, Javier; Acosta, Pablo Ariel; Canavire Bacarreza, Gustavo Javier |
| Abstract: | In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 crisis, the Peruvian government implemented a policy recognizing the foreign medical qualifications of immigrant health care workers. This study analyzes the labor market performance of Venezuelan health professionals with respect to other Venezuelans with university-level qualifications between 2018 and 2022. The findings show that health professionals experienced a marked improvement in their wages, significantly outperforming their fellow immigrants in sectors such as law and education. The analysis finds that compared to native Peruvian health professionals, Venezuelan health professionals experienced the highest positive impact on their income of all university-level professionals. However, although the effect is robust and statistically significant in the full sample and preferred specifications, it is not significant under alternative sampling restrictions. The study argues that the increased income of Venezuelan health professionals is related to the effectiveness of credential recognition policies in boosting the earnings of immigrants. |
| Date: | 2025–06–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11162 |
| By: | Eleonora Trappolini (Sapienza Università di Roma); Kim Wooseong (Karolinska Institute, Sweden); Giammarco Alderotti (Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti", Universita' di Firenze) |
| Abstract: | In the context of global population ageing, migrants are increasingly essential to sustaining labour forces across high-income countries. This study investigates the dynamics of overqualification (i.e., when workers have higher qualifications than their job requires) and job satisfaction among migrants, taking Italy - a country with one of the world's oldest populations and a highly segmented labour market - as a case study. We pursue three main goals: (1) to examine the risk of overqualification by migrant background, (2) to analyse how overqualification relates to job satisfaction by migrant status, and (3) to test whether the relationship between the two differs among older natives and migrants. We pay particular attention to migrants'age at arrival - a key factor that can profoundly shape labour market experiences through such mechanisms as educational pathways and integration trajectories. The results show that migrants, especially those who arrived in Italy as adults, face a significantly higher risk of overqualification than natives. However, the negative association between overqualification and job satisfaction is weaker among this group, and particularly among older adult migrants. These findings suggest the emergence of an 'overqualification/job satisfaction paradox', whereby those most exposed to job mismatch appear less affected by its negative consequences. This may be driven by psychological mechanisms- such as adaptation to lower expectations - as well as by selection processes, whereby migrants with more negative experiences may have already exited the host labour market. |
| Keywords: | overqualification; job satisfaction, migrants, Italy |
| JEL: | J15 J61 J28 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fir:econom:wp2025_07 |
| By: | Lambrecht, Isabel B.; Mardonova Tolibkhonovna, Mohru; Pechtl, Sarah; Teirlinck, Charlotte |
| Abstract: | Labor migration is generally motivated by the prospect of higher earnings abroad, and many migrants support their left-behind household members through remittances. Migrants’ long-term absence from home may, however, also affect intra-household dynamics among those remaining behind. Relying on primary qualitative data as well as quantitative data from 938 married women, we analyze empowerment impacts of migration on women in rural southern Tajikistan. Tajikistan is one of the most remittance-dependent countries in the world. A large share of young men migrates internationally, leaving behind – and often supporting – a multi-generational household. Yet, strong social norms limit the decision-making power and mobility of women, particularly of young women. Whereas senior women report noticeable differences when their spouses migrate, this is far less so for young women who live with their parents-in-law. Our study demonstrates that accounting for a respondent’s position within the household is key to understanding empowerment outcomes of its members. |
| Keywords: | migration; gender; households; women's empowerment; Tajikistan; Asia; Central Asia |
| Date: | 2025–07–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:175568 |
| By: | Lemos, Sara (University of Leicester) |
| Abstract: | No empirical evidence has ever been reported that the large inflow of accession immigrants – following the 2004 expansion of the European Union – led to a fall in wages or employment, or a rise in unemployment in the UK between 2004 and 2006. This immigration shock was unexpectedly larger and faster – as well as more concentrated into areas and occupations – than anticipated, seemingly more akin to an exogenous supply shock than most immigration shocks. Exploiting rich but underused individual level data from the Lifetime Labour Market Database (LLMDB) we estimate the effect of this immigration shock on wages, employment and unemployment of natives and previously existing immigrants in the UK. We confirm once again the finding of little evidence that the inflow of accession immigrants led to a fall in wages, a fall in employment, or a rise in unemployment of natives in the UK between 2004 and 2006. However, we uncover, for the first time, novel evidence of adverse employment and unemployment effects for low paid existing immigrants as a result of the accession immigration inflow. This is more severe for low paid immigrants and young low paid immigrants as well as for long term unemployed immigrants. |
| Keywords: | wages, employment, immigration, Central and Eastern Europe, UK |
| JEL: | J22 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18000 |
| By: | Long, Xianling; Huang, Kaixing; Hou, Hao |
| Abstract: | A persistent puzzle in developing economies is why rural households remain in low-productivity agricultural sectors despite the substantial income gaps with non-agricultural opportunities. While existing studies attribute this gap to market frictions, institutional barriers, and differences in human capital, this paper shifts the focus to household-level welfare trade-offs, specifically, the non-pecuniary welfare losses borne by family members left behind when working-age individuals migrate. We develop a theoretical framework to show how such hidden costs affect labor reallocation and how they can be quantified empirically. Leveraging China's Grain for Green (GFG) Program--a nationwide conservation policy that induced farmland retirement in exchange for subsidies, we show that the policy led to significant increases in migration and non-agricultural labor, especially among women and younger individuals. Using revealed preference logic, we estimate that hidden migration costs amount to 10.5--12.6% of total household income for policy-induced migrants. Drawing on rich survey data, we trace these costs to two key sources: disruptions to children's education and reduced caregiving capacity for elderly household members. These findings highlight the need for policies that ease the burden of migrating with dependents, such as removing restrictions on education and healthcare access in destination areas. |
| Keywords: | Rural-urban migration, Hidden migration cost, Grain for Green Program |
| JEL: | I31 O13 R14 R23 |
| Date: | 2025–06–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:125162 |
| By: | De Luca, Giacomo (University of Edinburgh); Montalbano, Andrea (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano); Stillman, Steven (Free University of Bozen/Bolzano) |
| Abstract: | We study the long-term impact of compulsory military service, a powerful nation building tool, on attitudes toward immigrants. Using a regression discontinuity design, we compare cohorts of men required to serve with those exempted due to suspension of compulsory service in 21 European countries. We find that conscripts exhibit more negative attitudes towards immigrants, whereas this is not true for women in the same birth cohorts. The impact is more pronounced in countries with high levels of immigration, and when the military service was done during a left-wing government, and hence provided a stronger change in narrative during a crucial formative period. |
| Keywords: | identity, conscription, nation building, immigration, discrimination |
| JEL: | I28 Z13 F22 D71 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18003 |
| By: | Xu, Lei (Loughborough University); Tani, Massimiliano (UNSW Canberra); Zhu, Yu (University of Dundee); Wen, Xin (UNSW Canberra) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of China’s 2014 hukou reform - a major change allowing migrants living in small and medium-sized cities of less than 5 million people to apply for urban residence - on formal and informal borrowing at a time of rapid economic transformation. We find that the hukou policy change has predominantly increased natives’ access to finance, especially through informal sources, and for investments in housing. We also find that the policy affects households differently according to education level, with more educated households borrowing more to capitalise on rising asset prices driven by the ‘additional’ urban population created by the policy. |
| Keywords: | formal and informal debt, hukou reform, migrants |
| JEL: | D14 G51 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17990 |