IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ijlaec/v60y2017i3d10.1007_s41027-018-0100-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Migrant workers in urban labour markets in India: wage differentials, assimilation and occupational attainment

Author

Listed:
  • M. Imran Khan

    (Centre for Development Studies)

Abstract

The paper examines the wage differentials and returns to human capital of migrant and non-migrant workers in the urban labour markets in India. Using unit-level data from the Employment, Unemployment and Migration Survey (2007–2008), the regression analysis examines the effect of various factors particularly human capital and years since migration in determining wage differentials in different specifications. The results showed that the migrants (both rural and urban) earned higher daily wages than non-migrant workers across states, but the wage advantage was higher for urban migrants than rural migrants both in regular and casual work. Segregating the wage gap into different observable factors, the results showed that the migrant wage advantage was mainly explained by the difference in nature of employment, type of occupation, location of job and other socio-religious factors but not due to differences in human capital. However, in case of urban migrants, education plays a major role in explaining the wage advantage over non-migrants, particularly in regular wage work. Even though the migrants showed a higher wage advantage, the gap reduced with the duration of stay at the destination labour market. While modelling the occupational attainment among migrants and non-migrants, the study found that education plays an important role in enabling migrants, especially urban migrants, get access to higher-paying occupations.

Suggested Citation

  • M. Imran Khan, 2017. "Migrant workers in urban labour markets in India: wage differentials, assimilation and occupational attainment," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 60(3), pages 437-459, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ijlaec:v:60:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s41027-018-0100-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s41027-018-0100-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41027-018-0100-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s41027-018-0100-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. M. Imran Khan, 2016. "Migrant and non-migrant wage differentials: a quintile decomposition analysis for India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 59(2), pages 245-273, June.
    2. Andrews, Martyn J. & Clark, Ken & Whittaker, William, 2007. "The Employment and Earnings of Migrants in Great Britain," IZA Discussion Papers 3068, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Xin Meng, 2012. "Labor Market Outcomes and Reforms in China," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(4), pages 75-102, Fall.
    4. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Introduction to "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings"," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 1-4, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Chiswick, Barry R, 1978. "The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 897-921, October.
    6. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Assimilation, Changes in Cohort Quality, and the Earnings of Immigrants," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 2, pages 3-29, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Barry R. Chiswick & Paul W. Miller, 2008. "Occupational Attainment and Immigrant Economic Progress in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 84(s1), pages 45-56, September.
    8. Vamsi Vakulabharanam & Saswata Guha Thakurata, 2014. "Why Do Migrants Do Better Than Non-Migrants At Destination? Migration, Class And Inequality Dynamics In India," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 59(01), pages 1-13.
    9. Borjas, George J & Bronars, Stephen G & Trejo, Stephen J, 1992. "Assimilation and the Earnings of Young Internal Migrants," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(1), pages 170-175, February.
    10. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1.
    11. Srivastava, Ravi., 2016. "Structural change and non-standard forms of employment in India," ILO Working Papers 994897513402676, International Labour Organization.
    12. Lee, Leng, 2012. "Decomposing wage differentials between migrant workers and urban workers in urban China's labor markets," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 461-470.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mohd Imran Khan, 2021. "Consequences of Labour Migration on Wages and Employment: Evidence from India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 64(1), pages 23-47, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. M. Imran Khan, 2016. "Migrant and non-migrant wage differentials: a quintile decomposition analysis for India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 59(2), pages 245-273, June.
    2. Drydakis, Nick, 2011. "Ethnic Identity and Immigrants' Wages in Greece," IZA Discussion Papers 6078, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Solomon W. Polachek & Jun (Jeff) Xiang, 2006. "The Effects of Incomplete Employee Wage Information: A Cross-Country Analysis," Research in Labor Economics, in: The Economics of Immigration and Social Diversity, pages 35-75, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    4. Zhang, Li & Sharpe, Rhonda Vonshay & Li, Shi & Darity, William A., 2016. "Wage differentials between urban and rural-urban migrant workers in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 222-233.
    5. Valentine Fays & Benoît Mahy & François Rycx & Mélanie Volral, 2021. "Wage discrimination based on the country of birth: do tenure and product market competition matter?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(13), pages 1551-1571, March.
    6. Valentine Jacobs & Kevin Pineda-Hernández & François Rycx & Mélanie Volral, 2023. "Does over-education raise productivity and wages equally? The moderating role of workers’ origin and immigrants’ background," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 698-724, November.
    7. Green, David A. & Worswick, Christopher, 2012. "Immigrant earnings profiles in the presence of human capital investment: Measuring cohort and macro effects," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 241-259.
    8. George J. Borjas, 2000. "The Economic Progress of Immigrants," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in the Economics of Immigration, pages 15-50, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. David Lagakos & Benjamin Moll & Tommaso Porzio & Nancy Qian & Todd Schoellman, 2018. "Life-Cycle Human Capital Accumulation across Countries: Lessons from US Immigrants," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(2), pages 305-342.
    10. Sebastian Gundel & Heiko Peters, "undated". "Assimilation and Cohort Effects for German Immigrants," Working Papers 200123, Institute of Spatial and Housing Economics, Munster Universitary.
    11. Carl Lin, 2016. "How Do Immigrants From Taiwan Fare In The U.S. Labor Market?," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 61(05), pages 1-38, December.
    12. Kawaguchi, Daiji & Toriyabe, Takahiro, 2022. "Measurements of skill and skill-use using PIAAC," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    13. Jeffrey J. Yankow, 2003. "Migration, Job Change, and Wage Growth: A New Perspective on the Pecuniary Return to Geographic Mobility," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 483-516, August.
    14. Masood Gheasi & Peter Nijkamp & Piet Rietveld, 2017. "Wage gaps between native and migrant graduates of higher education institutions in the Netherlands," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 277-296, October.
    15. Hamid Beladi & Saibal Kar, 2015. "Skilled and Unskilled Immigrants and Entrepreneurship in a Developed Country," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 666-682, August.
    16. Marina Gindelsky, 2019. "Testing the acculturation of the 1.5 generation in the United States: Is there a “critical” age of migration?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 31-65, March.
    17. Michael Chletsos & Stelios Roupakias, 2017. "Native-immigrant wage differentials in Greece: discrimination and assimilation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(17), pages 1732-1736, April.
    18. Das, Tirthatanmoy & Polachek, Solomon, 2017. "Micro Foundations of Earnings Differences," IZA Discussion Papers 10922, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Mohamed Saalim & Sobin George, 2021. "Determinants of Wage Differentials Among In-Migrant Workers: Insights from a Primary Study Conducted in Kozhikode District, Kerala, India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 64(4), pages 981-997, December.
    20. Paul W. Miller & Barry R. Chiswick, 2002. "Immigrant earnings: Language skills, linguistic concentrations and the business cycle," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(1), pages 31-57.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Internal migration; Wage differential; Assimilation; Human capital; Occupational attainment; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J40 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - General
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ijlaec:v:60:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s41027-018-0100-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.