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The Impact of Czech Commuters on the German Labour Market

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  • Michael Moritz

Abstract

In the process of European integration, regions close to a border are especially affected by labour market liberalisation. Using data from the IAB employment subsample (IABS) and the employment register (BeH) for the period before and after the opening of the border between Germany and the Czech Republic (1980-2001) I shed light on the development of wages. Both German employees and Czech commuters in the western German borderland of Bavaria are compared to other domestic and foreign workers. At the beginning of the 1990s, German legislation was relatively unrestrictive, so that it was quite easy for Czech workers to obtain a work permit beyond the border. Most of them had only low education. More than 5% of the eastern Bavarian male, low-skilled workforce was reported Czech in the early 1990s. Surprisingly, precisely in this period German employees seem to have benefited from integration, but suffered in the years afterwards, when regulations on labour permits for commuters were far stricter.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Moritz, 2011. "The Impact of Czech Commuters on the German Labour Market," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2011(1), pages 40-58.
    • Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2011:y:2011:i:1:id:386:p:40-58
    DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.386
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    2. Manuel Aepli & Andreas Kuhn, 2020. "Open Labor Markets and Firms' Substitution between Training Apprentices and Hiring Workers," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0179, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    3. Aepli, Manuel & Kuhn, Andreas, 2019. "Open Labor Markets and Firms’ Substitution between Training Apprentices and Hiring Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 12479, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Ulrich Zierahn, 2012. "The effect of market access on the labor market: Evidence from German reunification," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201239, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    5. Johanna Katharina Trager, 2023. "EU labor policy recommendations drawn from COVID‐driven research attention on cross‐border commuting – A review," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(3), pages 659-681, April.
    6. Aepli, Manuel & Kuhn, Andreas, 2021. "Open labor markets and Firms’ substitution between training apprentices and hiring workers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    regional labour markets; international migration; cross-border commuting; wage differentials;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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