Labor Market Outcomes Of Natives Research Articles

Did DACA Harm US-Born Workers? Temporary Work Visas and Labor Market Competition

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals granted more than 900,000 temporary work permits to eligible immigrants. I estimate the impact of the policy on the labor market outcomes of natives and immigrants ineligible to take up the policy using ACS data and a continuous difference-in-differences strategy to compare individuals who are more and less exposed to the eligible population. I find that DACA does not depress labor market outcomes for natives, and possibly increases the fraction working. I also find that the policy likely had no impact on ineligible immigrants.

The impact of mass migration of Syrians on the Turkish labor market

We estimate the effects of the arrival of 2.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey as of the end of 2015 on the labor market outcomes of natives, using a difference-in-differences IV methodology. We find that the migrant influx has strong adverse effects on native workers in the informal sector, particularly on temporary wage workers, less-educated and young workers, women who are part-time employed and self-employed, and workers in agriculture and construction. At the same time, it has favorable effects on complementary workers in the formal sector; wage employment and wages of men in the formal sector increase—particularly in manufacturing. Increases in product market prices and capital investment in the treatment regions contribute to the rise in labor demand in the formal sector. The migrant impact on native men's total employment is null, whereas it is more adverse for women primarily because the migrant influx does not raise their employment in the formal sector—unlike for men. The adverse effects on the most vulnerable groups in the labor market and the rise in consumer prices imply that poverty might increase among these native groups.

Tipping and the Effects of Segregation

We analyze how neighborhood ethnic population composition affects the short- and long-run education and labor market outcomes of natives and immigrants. To overcome the problem of nonrandom sorting across neighborhoods, we borrow theoretical insights from the tipping point literature and exploit estimated tipping thresholds as instruments for changes in ethnic population composition. Our results provide little evidence in support of the idea that living in a neighborhood with a higher immigrant share leads to worse outcomes. (JEL I20, J15, J24, R23)

An inquiry on the impact of highly-skilled STEM immigration on the U.S. economy

This article estimates the potential economic benefits of STEM immigration and examines the impact of highly skilled STEM immigration on the wage structure in the United States. Considering that foreign-born share of STEM workers has been increasing rapidly in recent years, there are new interests in examining the extent to which labor market outcomes of natives – and immigrants alike – are affected by this supply inflow. The analysis yields a few main findings. First, U.S. and foreign-born STEM workers with similar skills have a high but finite elasticity of substitution ( ∼ 18), implying that the adverse impact of STEM immigration would be more concentrated among immigrant STEM workers themselves. Second, 2000–2015 foreign STEM labor supply shock increases the average wage of preexisting U.S.-born STEM workers by 4.67%. This finding, however, masks a distributional consequence of the shock as native STEM workers with higher educational attainment experience lower wage gains. Finally, the economic benefit for native workers from 2000–2015 foreign STEM supply shock is approximately 103 billion USD or 1.03% of U.S. GDP in 1999. Almost all of this benefit comes from the productivity spillovers associated with high-skilled STEM immigration that increase the productivity and wages of U.S.-born workers.

The impact of Syrian refugees on natives\u2019 labor market outcomes in Turkey: evidence from a quasi-experimental design

Civil conflict in Syria, started in March 2011, led to a massive wave of forced immigration from Northern Syria to the Southeastern regions of Turkey, which later had serious economic/political repercussions on the MENA region and most of Europe. This paper exploits this natural experiment to estimate the impact of Syrian refugees on the labor market outcomes of natives in Turkey. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, we find that immigration has considerably affected the employment outcomes of natives, while its impact on wage outcomes has been negligible. We document notable employment losses among informal workers as a consequence of refugee inflows. Formal employment increased slightly potentially due to increased social services in the region. The majority of those who lost their informal jobs have either left the labor force or remained unemployed. Formal employment and unemployment rates have increased, while labor force participation, informal employment, and job finding rates have declined among natives. Disadvantaged groups, i.e., women, younger workers, and less-educated workers, have been affected the worst. The prevalence of informal employment in the Turkish labor markets has amplified the negative impact of Syrian refugee inflows on natives’ labor market outcomes. Overall, the impact of Syrian refugee inflows on the Turkish labor markets has been limited, which suggests that the potential costs on the European and other affected labor markets might also be limited.

Immigration and the Labor Market Outcomes of Natives in Developing Countries: A Case Study of South Africa

AbstractUsing South African census data from 2001, 2007, and 2011, I examine the effect that immigration had on labor market outcomes of native-born black South Africans. Using instrumental variables to control for the potential endogenous location choices of immigrants to South Africa, the results show that immigrant inflows decreased the employment-to-population ratios and total annual income of black native-born South Africans. Additionally, results suggest a negative effect of immigrant inflows on the employment ratio and total annual income of black native-born South Africans employed in the formal sector. Results show that immigration caused an intersectoral employment shift. For black male South Africans, the composition of the employed labor force shifted to the formal sector, and for black female South Africans, the composition of the employed labor force shifted to the informal sector.

How do rigid labor markets absorb immigration? Evidence from France

Abstract This paper investigates how immigration can affect the labor market outcomes of native workers when their wages are rigid. I use a rich dataset for France and decompose the native workers according to whether they are covered by fixed-term or indefinite-term contracts. Indefinite-term contracts are associated with higher wage protection than fixed-term contracts that allow firms to adjust wages as contracts expire. I use an empirical methodology which captures the direct effects of an immigrant-induced increase in labor supply on the labor market outcomes of natives who have similar skills. I find that the monthly wage of native workers covered by fixed-term contracts decreases in response to immigration, while employment is the margin through which native workers on indefinite-term contracts is affected.

The Impact of Syrian Refugees on Natives' Labor Market Outcomes in Turkey: Evidence from a Quasi-Experimental Design

Civil war in Syria, which started in March 2011, has led to a massive wave of forced immigration from the Northern Syria to the Southeastern regions of Turkey. This paper exploits this natural experiment to estimate the impact of Syrian refugees on the labor market outcomes of natives in Turkey. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, we find that immigration has considerably affected the employment outcomes of natives, while its impact on wage outcomes has been negligible. We document notable employment losses among informal workers as a consequence of refugee inflows. The majority of those who lost their informal jobs have either left the labor force or remained unemployed. Overall, unemployment rates have increased, while labor force participation, informal employment, and job finding rates have declined among natives. Disadvantaged groups – i.e., females, younger workers, and less-educated workers – have been affected the worst. The prevalence of informal employment in the Turkish labor markets has amplified the negative impact of Syrian refugee inflows on natives' labor market outcomes.

Immigration and the Occupational Choice of Natives: A Factor Proportions Approach

This paper evaluates the impact of immigration on the labor market outcomes of natives in France over the period 1962-1999. Combining large (up to 25%) extracts from six censuses and data from Labor Force Surveys, we exploit the variation in the immigrant share across education/experience cells and over time to identify the impact of immigration. In the Borjas (2003) specification, we find that a 10% increase in immigration increases native wages by 3%. However, as the number of immigrants and the number of natives are positively and strongly correlated across cells, the immigrant share may not be a good measure of the immigration shock. When the log of natives and the log of immigrants are used as regressors instead, the impact of immigration on natives' wages is still positive but much smaller, and natives' wages are negatively related to the number of natives. To understand this asymmetry and the positive impact of immigration on wages, we explore the link between immigration and the occupational distribution of natives within education/experience cells. Our results suggest that immigration leads to the reallocation of natives to better-paid occupations within education/experience cells.

Complements or substitutes? Task specialization by gender and nativity in Spain

Learning about the impact of immigration on the labor market outcomes of natives is a topic of major concern for immigrant-receiving countries. Using data from Spain, where the immigrant population has risen from 4% to 13% within a decade, we find that immigration appears to have affected the task specialization of natives without affecting their employment levels. However, the impact of immigration on the relative task supply of natives is twice as great in Spain as in the United States. The magnitude of the immigration impact in a country with a large share of immigrants originating from Spanish-speaking countries suggests that host country language proficiency is not the sole factor driving the observed impact. Additionally, the analysis reveals significant gender differences in the impact of immigration on the relative task supply of natives, possibly resting on the occupational concentration of immigrants and native occupational segregation patterns by gender, among other factors.

Immigration and the Occupational Choice of Natives: A Factor Proportions Approach

This paper evaluates the impact of immigration on the labor market outcomes of natives in France over the period 1962-1999. Combining large (up to 25%) extracts from six censuses and data from Labor Force Surveys, we exploit the variations in the immigrant share across education/experience cells and over time to identify the impact of immigration. In the baseline specification, we find that a 10% increase in immigration increases native wages by 3%. The positive impact of immigration is shown to be robust to different identification strategies and does not seem to come from the differential prevalence of the minimum wage for different groups of workers. We show that a larger number of natives in education/experience cells is generally associated with lower wages for natives, while the number of immigrants in the cell is actually positively correlated with the wages of natives. To understand this asymmetry and the positive impact of immigration on wages, we explore the link between immigration and the occupational distribution of natives within education/experience cells. Our results suggest that immigration leads to the reallocation of natives to better-paid occupations within education/experience cells.

Complements or Substitutes? Task Specialization by Gender and Nativity in Spain

Learning about the impact of immigration on the labor market outcomes of natives is a topic of major concern for immigrant-receiving countries. There exists an extensive literature evaluating the impact of immigration on the employment and wages of natives in the U.S. Yet, despite the significant degree of occupational segregation by gender regardless of workers' origin, the literature has traditionally treated male and female immigrants as a homogenous group when examining the impact of immigration on native workers. Instead, using data from Spain, where the immigrant population has risen from 4 percent to 10 percent of the population within a decade, we allow for male and female foreign-born workers to have distinct impacts on the employment patterns of native men and women. This proves to be important as foreign-born workers only seem to have a significant impact on the employment pattern of native workers of the same sex. Furthermore, foreign-born male (female) workers do not appear to be perfect substitutes of similarly skilled native male (female) workers, which may help explain the null or small impacts of immigration on native employment and wages. Instead, immigration appears to have affected the task specialization and occupational distribution of natives of the same gender.