Unskilled Native Workers Research Articles

Does the Cost of Foreign Workers Affect the Wages of Local Agricultural Workers? Evidence from Israel

Modern agriculture often relies on foreign workers. Critics claim that it hinders investments in labor-saving techniques, and leads to unemployment of unskilled native workers. Proponents highlight the contribution of foreign workers to growth, especially in rural areas. This paper investigates whether the inflow foreign workers really affect the demand for local workers in agriculture. We exploit an 8% tax that was assessed on the wages of foreign workers in 2003. If foreign workers are substitutes to local unskilled workers, the demand for local unskilled workers should increase as a result of the tax, and their wages should increase, unless their supply is perfectly elastic. On the other hand, if unskilled workers, foreign or local, are complements to skilled agricultural workers, the demand of the latter should decline, and their wages should decline as well. We found, using a difference-in-difference regression approach, that the wages of local unskilled agricultural workers in Israel increased about 9% following the taxation of foreign worker wages, but the effect is not statistically significant, perhaps because of the small sample size. No changes in wages were found for skilled workers. To conclude, this research provides some support to the hypothesis that there is substitution between foreign workers and local unskilled Israeli workers in agriculture, but this conclusion is not strong enough statistically.

The unemployment impact of immigrant workers in Thailand

Labour migration has an effect on both receiving and sending countries such as culture, demography, economy, conflict, and politics. Many studies have found that immigration also benefits the labour export countries, likewise poverty reduction. However, the other argument is that immigrants may replace the natives and steal the job opportunity of citizens because of the competition in the labour market. Unskilled migrants are considered as a cheaper source when compared to unskilled native workers; that's why, most of the firms want the immigrants to work for them than their citizens. As a result, immigrants might replace the native workers in the labour market. The result of this study shows that immigration has a positive effect on employment in Thailand. It helps to reduce unemployment in the long run. However, in the short run it will create more unemployment towards the Thai's labour market.

The unemployment impact of Immigrants workers in Thailand

Labour migration has an effect on both receiving and sending countries such as culture, demography, economy, conflict, and politics. Many studies have found that immigration also benefits the labour export countries, likewise poverty reduction. However, the other argument is that immigrants may replace the natives and steal the job opportunity of citizens because of the competition in the labour market. Unskilled migrants are considered as a cheaper source when compared to unskilled native workers; that's why, most of the firms want the immigrants to work for them than their citizens. As a result, immigrants might replace the native workers in the labour market. The result of this study shows that immigration has a positive effect on employment in Thailand. It helps to reduce unemployment in the long run. However, in the short run it will create more unemployment towards the Thai's labour market.

Immigration and Occupational Mobility of Native Workers in Spain. A Gender Perspective

This paper studies the economic effect of immigration on native working conditions, focusing on the impact of the inflow of immigrant labour on occupational mobility among native workers. Basing on a gender-segmented labour market, we propose an extension of the model presented by Peri and Sparber American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 1(3), 135-169, (2009). The model controls for gender and time in order to check for potential differences in immigration effects associated with gender or immigrant length of residence. This research reveals the existence of such differences, by showing that female immigrant inflow has a greater positive short-term impact on occupational mobility among female unskilled native workers. In addition, the long-term study discloses a slight occupational assimilation of male immigrants towards employment patterns of male native workers and a permanent confinement of female immigrants in a few “niche jobs”.

A SEARCH‐EQUILIBRIUM APPROACH TO THE EFFECTS OF IMMIGRATION ON LABOR MARKET OUTCOMES

We analyze the impact of the U.S. skill‐biased immigration influx that took place between 2000 and 2009 within a search and matching model that allows for skill heterogeneity, differential search cost, and capital‐skill complementarity. We find that although the skill‐biased immigration raised the overall net income to natives, it had distributional effects. Specifically, unskilled native workers gained in terms of both employment and wages. Skilled native workers, however, gained in terms of employment but lost in terms of wages. Nevertheless, in an extension where skilled natives and immigrants are imperfect substitutes, even the skilled wage rises.

How the Migrant Workers Affect Native Workers The Study of Basic Model

The increased labor supply of migrant workers can make up labor shortage of host countries. Based on basic theoretic study, this paper tries to build a model to investigate the effect of rising number of unskilled migrant workers on different skilled workers. It indicates that both wages and employment for unskilled and skilled native workers will increase because the labor demand of native workers, if the effect of higher production (scale effect) larger than the effect of substitution between migrant and native workers. On the other hand, the migrant workers will have different effect on skilled and unskilled native workers.

The Effect of Immigration on Unskilled Native Workers: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

This study exploits the natural experiment, provided by the start of the second intifada, to measure the effect of immigration on the wage and employment of unskilled native workers. It finds that immigration has no effect on the wage or employment of unskilled Jewish workers. The wage and employment of the least‐skilled Israeli Arab workers (with zero to five years of schooling) are adversely affected by immigration. The slightly more skilled Arab workers (with six to 11 years of schooling), in contrast, are positively affected by immigration, suggesting a complementarity effect with this group. Different explanations are proposed.

The impact of immigration on the employment and wages of native workers

We analyze the impact of the immigration influx that took place during the years 2000–2007 in Greece on labor market outcomes. We employ a search and matching framework that allows for skill heterogeneity and differential unemployment income (search cost) between immigrants and natives. Within such a framework, we find that skilled native workers, who complement immigrants in production, gain in terms of both wages and employment. The effects on unskilled native workers, who compete with immigrants, on the other hand, are ambiguous and depend first on the presence of a statutory minimum wage and second on the way that this minimum wage is determined.

The Impact of Immigration on the Employment and Wages of Native Workers

We analyze the impact of the immigration influx that took place during the years 2000-2007 in Greece on labor market outcomes. We employ a search and matching framework that allows for skill heterogeneity and differential unemployment income (search cost) between immigrants and natives. Within such a framework, we .find that skilled native workers, who complement immigrants in production, gain in terms of both wages and employment. The effects on unskilled native workers, who compete with immigrants, on the other hand, are ambiguous and depend first on the presence of a statutory minimum wage and second on the way that this minimum wage is determined.

Illegal immigration booms and welfare in the host country

We assess the effects of an important influx of illegal immigration on production and welfare, applied to the Spanish economy during the nineties, through a calibrated general equilibrium model. Immigrants are perfect substitutes of unskilled native workers, according to their productivity, but they are unevenly rewarded. In a first simulation we analyse the effects of an exogenous increase of illegal workers equal to the estimates for the period. In another simulation an equivalent expansion in unskilled legal immigrants is then considered. Finally, a comparison of both simulations provides the scenario of illegal immigrants being legalised. The outcome suggests that the amount of remittances and the role of labour market mechanisms (e.g. trade unions) play an important role in overall results.

Labour demand with heterogeneous workers: Migrations and unemployment

This paper provides a unified theory of the labour market in which the workforce is assumed to be heterogeneous. In the model, workers may be skilled or unskilled, natives or migrants, employed or unemployed. Each worker is characterised by a different productivity level and effort aversion. Moreover, the social costs of migrant integration and the costs of unemployment are also accounted for. The model derives the equilibrium wages and the demand for labour for all types of workers. It is then used to analyse the effects of different migration and unemployment policies. Should the government introduce quotas on the flows of skilled and/or unskilled migrant labour? How should the government subsidise the re-training of unemployed unskilled native workers? Are social goals consistent with private ones?

European Labour Mobility: Challenges and Potentials

European Union economies are pressed by (i) a demographic change that induces population ageing and a decline of the workforce, and (ii) a split labour market that is characterized by high levels of unemployment for low-skilled people and a simultaneous shortage of skilled workers. This lack of flexible high-skilled workers and the aging process has created the image of an immobile labour force and the eurosklerosis phenomenon. In such a situation, an economically motivated immigration policy at the European level can generate welfare improvements. A selective policy that discourages unskilled migrants and attracts skilled foreign workers will vitalize the labour market, foster growth and increase demand for unskilled native workers. The paper summarizes the available economic insights, and suggests (i) the need to harmonize the single-country migration policies across Europe and (ii) that the European Union needs to become an active player on the international labour markets by providing competitive institutional settings for European companies.

European Labour Mobility: Challenges and Potentials

European Union economies are pressed by (i) a demographic change that induces population ageing and a decline of the workforce, and (ii) a split labour market that is characterized by high levels of unemployment for low -skilled people and a simultaneous shortage of skilled workers. This lack of flexible high-skilled workers and the aging process has created the image of an immobile labour force and the eurosklerosis phenomenon. In such a situation, an economically motivated immigration policy at the European level can generate welfare improvements. A selective policy that discourages unskilled migrants and attracts skilled foreign workers will vitalize the labour market, foster growth and increase demand for unskilled native workers. The paper summarizes the available economic insights, and suggests (i) the need to harmonize the single -country migration policies across Europe and (ii) that the European Union needs to become an active player on the international labour markets.

The Linkage between Immigration and Internal Migration in Large Metropolitan Areas in the United States

This paper investigates the relationship between the internal migration of native-born workers and flows of immigrants to the United States using the 1980 and 1990 U.S. Census Bureau microsamples. A growing body of research asserts that places like New York, Los Angeles, and Miami suffer net losses of native-born workers, particularly the unskilled, because of immigration. We contend that large metropolitan areas suffer net losses of internal migrants for reasons other than the flow of immigrants to these localities. Based on the estimation of three sets of regression models for five overlapping samples of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States and five mutually exclusive segments of the labor force, this analysis shows that the finding of a significant linkage between internal migration and immigration depends critically on the empirical experiment used. In direct opposition to previous published research, we conclude that net migration of the native born for metropolitan areas is either positively related or unrelated to immigration. Our models show that the net migration loss of unskilled native workers from metropolitan areas is probably a function of those cities’ population size rather than immigrant flow to them. We conclude that the net migration loss of native-born workers from large metropolitan areas is more likely the result of industrial restructuring than of competition with immigrants.