Skilled Immigrants Research Articles

Impact of International Student Enrollment on US Gross Domestic Product

The goal of this paper is to analyze the impact of international student enrollments on the US real gross domestic product. It is hypothesized that an increase in international student enrollment tends to have a positive impact on US real gross domestic product. It is also hypothesized that an increase in economic impact of international students has a positive impact on the US real gross domestic product. A regression model is formulated that consists of percentage increase in real gross domestic product (economic growth rate) as the dependent variable. The independent variables used in the regression model are annual percentage increase in international student enrollments in the US and the annual percentage increase in economic impact of the international students in the US. Data is collected from 2009 to 2015 from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and NAFSA. It is important to analyze the rationale as to why highly skilled immigration is vital for promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation in the US economy. The current administration is trying to undermine the positive impact of highly skilled immigration on the US economy. The issue is critically important in the prevailing political climate in the US economy. An attempt is also made to formulate strategies that would help in mitigating negative outcomes such as potential declines in revenues for US universities as well as decline in research and grant funding that would arise due to decrease in international student enrolments.

Australia's Immigration Selection System and Labour Market Outcomes in a Family Context: Evidence from Administrative Data

This paper examines the efficacy of the Australian points system in a family context among working‐age permanent resident immigrants who arrived between 2000 and 2011 when there was a major focus on skills selection. Sixty‐seven per cent of these immigrants were granted a skilled visa while 25 per cent hold a spousal visa (spouses of Australian citizens). More than half of the skilled visa recipients are the spouses of the primary applicants. Primary applicants among skilled visa holders are assessed for their skills in line with the Australian points system but secondary applicants, such as spouses, among skilled visa holders and spousal visa holders are not subject to any skills assessment before becoming permanent residents. We study differences in economic outcomes by permanent visa types and the role of points system factors in explaining these differences using the Personal Income Tax and Migrants Integrated Dataset and the Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset. We find that primary skilled visa holders earn at least 26–28 per cent more than spousal visa holders, and this is similar for both genders. However, spouses of primary skilled visa holders earn 13–18 per cent more than spousal visa holders. This difference is higher among females than males. Occupation differences can account for nearly half of the differences in income and can entirely capture the role of education and English proficiency. Primary skilled immigrants and their spouses have higher rates of labour force participation and employment than spousal visa holders, starting in the first year of arrival, and the gap is much higher for primary skilled visa holders, but these differences do not disappear quickly.

Dynamic effects of changes to Japanese immigration policy

AbstractThis paper uses a single‐sector dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with heterogeneous households to analyse Japanese immigration policy. We examine the effects on output, consumption, factor prices, and utility. We do this for both steady states and transition paths. We find that: (a) aggregate output, investment, and consumption in Japan are likely to rise with any sort of loosening of immigration restrictions; (b) allowing more skilled immigration generates greater aggregate changes; (c) raising skilled immigration relative to unskilled immigration drives down skilled workers’ wages, consumption, and utility, while cutting the skilled to unskilled immigration share has the opposite effects; and (d) such immigration policy changes have small effects compared to those that occur naturally due to business cycle fluctuations

Who liberalizes high-skilled immigration policy and when? Partisanship and the timing of policy liberalization in 19 European states

ABSTRACT This article investigates the timing of HSI policy liberalization in Europe by focusing on the role of government partisanship in overcoming diverging pressures for and against greater openness. Using event history analysis to analyse changes in HSI policy in 19 European states from 1999 to 2011, this article finds that having right-leaning governments significantly accelerated HSI policy liberalization, while having left-leaning governments delayed it. The findings suggest that skilled immigration is not driven only by labour market dynamics but also by government partisanship. Moreover, the article sheds light on why right-wing parties, in contrast to their usual tendency to champion restrictive immigration policies, may pursue policy liberalization in the case of HSI.

“Making it work: Migration, motherhood and employment in Australia”

The transition into motherhood is often associated with a reduction in women's labor force participation, reinforcing gender employment hierarchies. Our study compares women's employment status and paid work time prior to and following birth among immigrants and native-borns in Australia. We also consider how these outcomes differ by generation status and racial and ethnic background. Australia provides a valuable context to understand these outcomes given its skilled migration policy, racial and ethnic diversity, limited childcare and family leave policies, and high rates of part-time work among mothers. We examine longitudinal data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) for women from 2001 to 2016. We find that migrant women show lower employment levels and commensurate work hours than native-borns prior to childbirth. After childbirth, migrant mothers maintain lower employment levels, but higher work hours than native-born mothers. Overall, we find that relative to native-borns, migrant women typically experience a smaller reduction in employment and work hours following childbirth, but some of this is likely due to their lower starting position prior to childbirth. Our findings have implications for skilled immigration policies and highlights the unique work-family pressures facing immigrant and native-born women.

IMMIGRANT WAGE GROWTH IN THE UNITED STATES: THE ROLE OF OCCUPATIONAL UPGRADING

AbstractImmigrants to the United States routinely take jobs below their skill qualifications because of barriers to entering occupations. We use a structural model of immigrant job choice to quantify the benefits of potential policies to promote entry into suitable occupations. We estimate the model using longitudinal labor market data on immigrants to the United States. Our counterfactual results show that eliminating barriers to occupational entry would lead to only a small earnings increase for the average immigrant in our sample, but a substantial earnings increase for the most highly skilled immigrants.

The Impact of Immigration on Skills, Innovation and Wages: Education Matters more than where People Come from

With the ensuing immigration reform in the US, the paper shows that targeted skilled immigration into the R&D sector that helps low-skilled labor is conducive for controlling inequality and raising wage. Skilled talent-led innovation could have spillover benefits for the unskilled sector while immigration into the production sector will always reduce wage, aggravating wage inequality. In essence, we infer: (i) if R&D inputs contributes only to skilled sector, wage inequality increases in general; (ii) for wage gap to decrease, R&D sector must produce inputs that goes into unskilled manufacturing sector; (iii) even with two types of specific R&D inputs entering into the skilled and unskilled sectors separately, unskilled labor is not always benefited by high skilled migrants into R&D-sector. Rather, it depends on the importance of migrants’ skill in R&D activities and intensity of inputs. Empirical verification using a VAR model in the context of the USA confirms the conjectures, and the empirical results substantiate our policy-guided hypothesis that skilled immigration facilitates innovation with favorable impact on reducing wage-gap. Inclusive immigration policy requires inter-sectoral diffusion of ideas embedded in talented immigrants targeted for innovation.

Migration across developed countries: German immigrants in Sweden and the US

AbstractThe present study evaluates the interplay between the effects of host countries' characteristics and self‐selection patterns of immigrants from a highly developed country on their economic assimilation in other developed countries. The focus is on immigrants originated from Germany during 1990–2000 who migrated to Sweden and the US. The results show that almost all German immigrants reached full earnings assimilation with natives of similar observed attributes, and that the assimilation of highly educated Germans was better than that of the less educated. It was also found that the skilled immigrants were compensated for their human capital acquired in Germany. Finally, the better assimilation of German immigrants, especially the highly educated, took place in the US. This finding was probably the result of an interaction between the Germans’ pattern of self‐selection and the US context of reception.

Theoretical-conceptual basis of the mechanism of public regulation of qualified labor immigration

The modern progress of the process of integration of Ukraine into the European space explains the objectivity of supporting this process with the phenomenon of immigration. This state of affairs increases the attention of scientists to the study of the impact of immigration on the economic, socio-political, legal state of the state and raises issues of national security and national interests. Ukraine needs to develop a long-term state immigration policy, which will result in the country's real readiness for the immigration process and the resolution of any problematic issues related to that process. As international experience shows, the migration of skilled labor has both positive and negative aspects. Without proper management mechanism and the basis, the state's unwillingness to immigration, both legal and illegal, the state suffers losses and is exposed to negative criminogenic phenomena. Instead, if it is prepared, the state can receive financial contributions to its own budget from the labor of immigrants, without incurring losses and costs for their maintenance. Theoretical and conceptual understanding of the problem of immigration of skilled labor in Ukraine is necessary for solving theoretical and practical problems for making administrative decisions, in particular on the issues of employment of immigrants, creation of appropriate national and regional immigration policy and prevention of illegal migration, economic security of the state, its economic and social interests. Today, there is an urgent need for a comprehensive study of the issue of public regulation of skilled labor immigration, taking into account both European legislation and other regions of the world. The integration of Ukraine into European and international institutions requires bringing its current immigration legislation into line with European and international standards. The countries of Europe have already gone through the appropriate stages of the influx of labor and have emerged from the crisis states that this leads to, so as never before, it is important to gain a positive experience in solving this problem in Ukraine.

Foreign-Born graduates and innovation: Evidence from an Australian skilled visa program✰,✰✰,★,★★

This paper estimates the effect of a skilled visa program that permits foreign-born graduates from Australian universities the right to temporarily live and work in Australia post-graduation on regional innovation outcomes. Our analysis combines data on innovation measures at the regional level with administrative data from the full population of approved Temporary Graduate visa applications. The empirical strategy accounts for the potential bias introduced by skilled foreign-born students sorting into innovative regions by using an instrumental variables strategy. Results show a positive impact of the visa program on the number of patent applications, indicating a positive impact of the skilled immigration visa program on regional innovation. We find no impact of the Temporary Graduate Visa program on the number of design rights or trademarks.

The Character Skills of Immigrants

We use novel data on a representative sample of the U.S. population to examine how immigrants and second-generation immigrants compare to natives on non-cognitive character skills as measured by a common taxonomy of personality. Our findings reveal that immigrants and second-generation immigrants tend to have higher levels of openness to experience and agency than natives. Additionally, second-generation immigrants have higher levels of conscientiousness than natives. The findings are especially salient since character skills have been shown to influence labor market outcomes. Next, we examine the role of character skills differences on earnings by immigrant generation. Our earnings estimates reveal that non-cognitive skills have approximately as much explanatory power as schooling, yet non-cognitive skills have a modest impact on the earnings differences of immigrants and second-generation immigrants vis-a-vis natives.

THE IMPACT OF EU IMMIGRATION ON ECONOMIC GROWTH THROUGH THE SKILL COMPOSITION CHANNEL

The paper aims to examine the new trends of immigration and their implications on the economy of the host country, particularly on economic growth and unemployment. As the effects of aging population can be felt in many countries, especially in developed ones, migration will continue to play an increasing role in the economic growth of all countries, either sending or receiving. Given the changes in migration trends and migration policies, the impact of the process should be revised. One of the main characteristics that significantly impacts economic growth is the education and skill level of immigrants. In the light of this fact, the research aims to identify the impact of immigration on growth through the skill composition channel. We analyzed the impact of skilled and unskilled immigration on growth, also including the unemployment rate as a relevant factor for the labour market. We estimated six dynamic panel models using the system of generalised method of moments (GMM) to take into account the risk of an endogeneity bias of the migration variables. The results indicate a positive and significant effect of skilled immigration on the economic growth of the receiving country. The results also point to a 1.3 percent β-convergence rate consistent with the values found in the convergence literature which are around 2 percent.

The trade effects of skilled versus unskilled migration

In this paper, we assess the role of skilled versus unskilled migration for bilateral trade in a flexible econometric model. Using a large data-set on bilateral skill-specific migration and a flexible novel identification strategy, the functionally flexible impact of different levels of skilled and unskilled immigration on the volume and structure of bilateral imports is identified in a quasi-experimental design. We find evidence of a polarized impact of skill-specific immigration on imports: highly concentrated skilled or unskilled immigrants induce higher import volumes than a balanced composition of the immigrant base. This effect turns out particularly important when institutions are weak. Regarding the structure of imports, we observe that skilled immigrants specifically add to imports in differentiated goods. Both bits of evidence are consistent with a segregation of skill-specific immigrant networks and corresponding trade patterns.

Foreign Credential Recognition and Immigrants’ Chances of Being Hired for Skilled Jobs—Evidence from a Survey Experiment Among Employers

Abstract A large body of empirical research has demonstrated that foreign education is a major cause of ethnic disadvantages in the labor market. However, there are few insights into how these disadvantages of foreign training can be effectively countered. To improve skilled immigrants’ access to positions commensurate with their foreign qualifications, several countries have introduced policies to officially recognize foreign educational credentials. In this study, we examine the extent to which having recognized foreign credentials improves immigrants’ chances of being hired. To identify the causal effect of foreign credential recognition on immigrants’ chances of accessing adequate jobs, we focus on employers’ hiring decisions. Using vignettes, we simulate a hiring process and show randomized profiles of applicants to employers who then rate how likely they are to invite the applicants to a job interview. Our central finding is that having recognized foreign credentials considerably narrows but does not completely close the gap in the hiring chances between foreign- and native-trained applicants. Moreover, we find that the extent to which applicants benefit from foreign credential recognition varies with their occupational experience but not with the quality of the educational system in which they were trained. We conclude that whereas foreign credential recognition is a promising tool to highlight immigrants’ skill potential and reduce the disadvantages of the foreign-trained in the labor market, it hardly harmonizes the hiring chances of native- and foreign-trained applicants.

How Do Restrictions on High-Skilled Immigration Affect Offshoring? Evidence from the H-1B Program

The decision to encourage or restrict high-skilled immigration has long been controversial. Advocates argue that high-skilled immigration is critical for firm competitiveness and innovation; critics argue that skilled immigrants displace native workers and drive down wages. The debate, however, has largely overlooked the secondary consequences of restrictions on high-skilled hiring of immigrants: multinational firms faced with decreased access to visas for skilled workers have an offshoring option, namely, hiring the foreign labor they need at their foreign affiliates. This paper documents the impact of restrictive high-skilled immigration policies on the offshoring of high-skilled jobs by US multinational companies using a unique matched firm-level dataset of H-1B visas and multinational firm activity and two different identification strategies. Both strategies yield the same result: that restrictions on H-1B immigration caused increases in foreign affiliate employment at both the intensive (US multinationals employed more people at their foreign affiliates) and the extensive (US multinationals opened more foreign affiliates) margins. The effects are concentrated among highly H-1B-dependent firms and RD the offshoring of jobs appears to be an unforeseen consequence of restricting skilled immigration flows. Even if H-1B immigrants displace some native workers, any policies that are motivated by concerns about the loss of native jobs should consider that these same policies have the unintended consequence of encouraging firms to offshore jobs abroad.

How Official Language and Country of Origin Impacts Health Workforce Integration in Canada

Skilled immigrants are actively recruited by developed countries in Europe and North America to address health force labour shortages. Although recruitment and selection processes are subject to strict regulations in Canada, internationally educated nurses continue to experience major difficulties with foreign credential recognition and obtaining employment. This study explores the different ways in which English or French, the official language requirements, intersects with immigrants’ ethnocultural background and integration. Key factors such as the timing of migration, age and professional English language competency, and pre-migration experiences were found to have a combined impact on employment success. Nurses with high levels of language proficiency acquired during the pre-immigration period and enhanced following migration had higher levels of economic integration. This study illustrated that current immigration policies would benefit from a closer examination of the match between pre-migration experiences and the required professional skills of the host country.

An Executive Order worth $100 Billion: The Impact of an Immigration Ban’s Announcement on Fortune 500 Firms’ Valuation

On June 22, 2020, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) that suspended new work visas, barring nearly 200,000 foreign workers and their dependents from entering the United States and preventing American companies from hiring skilled immigrants using H-1B or L1 visas. Exploiting this shock, and using event study methodology analyzing the cumulative average abnormal returns (CAARs) of Fortune 500 companies following this order, we find that the EO statistically and economically significantly caused negative CAARs of up to 0.45%, the equivalent of over 100 billion of US dollars of losses, based on the firms’ valuation before the event. Our results are particularly pronounced for firms that had maintained or increased their reliance on skilled immigrant workers over the prior years.

Immigrant Skill Distributions and Location Choices

In the wake of rising immigration and concerns about immigrant skill levels, this paper investigates the skill distributions of immigrants across different sizes of cities to determine where immigrants of certain skill levels locate and what the implications of those choices are. To that end, I utilize existing theory on skill complementarities as a framework for labor mobility of immigrants across cities, which suggests disproportionately higher concentrations of low- and high-skilled workers in large cities compared to small cities. I use 2018 American Community Survey data and stochastic dominance testing to determine if this theory applies to immigrant workers. I find evidence of a thicker lower tail in the skill distribution of large cities, suggesting a higher density of low-skilled immigrants in those locations. At the same time, I find proof of a thicker upper tail in small cities, which consists of approximately the top 2% of earners, indicating a higher number of high-skilled immigrants there. Furthermore, the results also suggest that there is a range of skills, over which immigrants are more concentrated in large cities, that begins with individuals who have at least earnings consistent with a Bachelor's degree, but which does not include the top 2% of earners. This could have important welfare implications for existing and future immigrants.

Employability Skills of Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors in Canary Islands

Young unaccompanied immigrants have various problems in their professional careers which lead to situations of exclusion and hinder their emancipation. The development and consolidation of employment skills is a necessary condition for the labour integration of this group. This research analyzes the employability skills of unaccompanied young immigrants who must leave the public social protection system when they reach the age of majority. A multiple case study was conducted. The cases were selected: 1) having been in residential care institutions, 2) having been in a job placement program, and 3) are 16–18 years of age. The study data were collected using qualitative and quantitative techniques. Results show that young immigrants have: a) language and socio-emotional difficulties that limit their chances of employability; b) some employability skills that facilitate labour insertion, and c) families which act as a powerful motivator for achieving their goals. We discuss the need to design individual transition plans to help young immigrants overcome their limitations, cope with the transition to adulthood and consolidate their career paths.

Australia's Immigration Selection System and Labour Market Outcomes in a Family Context: Evidence from Administrative Data

This paper examines the efficacy of Australian points system in a family context among working-age permanent resident immigrants who arrived between 2000 and 2011 when there was a major focus on skills selection. 67% of these immigrants were granted a skilled visa while 25% hold a spousal visa (spouses of Australian citizens). More than half of the skilled visa recipients are the spouses of the primary applicants. Primary applicants among skilled visa holders are assessed for their skills in line with Australian points system but secondary applicants, such as spouses, among skilled visa holders and spousal visa holders are not subject to any skills assessment before becoming permanent residents. We study differences in economic outcomes by permanent visa types and the role of points system factors in explaining these differences using Personal Income Tax and Migrants Integrated Dataset and Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset. We find that primary skilled visa holders earn at least 26-28 percent higher than spousal visa holders and this is similar for both genders. However, spouses of primary skilled visa holders earn 13-18 percent higher than spousal visa holders. This difference is higher among females than males. Occupation differences can account for nearly half of the differences in income and can entirely capture the role of education and English proficiency. Primary skilled immigrants and their spouses have higher rates of labour force participation and employment than spousal visa holders starting in the first year of arrival and the gap is much higher for primary skilled visa holders but these differences do not disappear quickly.