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The supply of foreign talent: how skill-biased technology drives the location choice and skills of new immigrants

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  • Andreas Beerli

    (KOF Swiss Economic Institute and Immigration Policy Lab)

  • Ronald Indergand

    (State Secretariat for Economic Affairs)

  • Johannes S. Kunz

    (Monash Business School)

Abstract

An important goal of immigration policy is facilitating the entry of foreign-born workers whose skills are in short supply in destination labor markets. In recent decades, information and communication technology (ICT) has fueled the demand for highly educated workers at the expense of less-educated groups. Exploiting the fact that regions in Switzerland have been differentially exposed to ICT due to their pre-ICT industrial composition, we present evidence suggesting that more exposed regions experienced stronger ICT adoption, accompanied by considerably stronger growth in relative employment and wage premia for college-educated workers. Following this change in the landscape of relative economic opportunities, we find robust evidence that these regions experienced a much larger influx of highly educated immigrants in absolute terms as well as relative to lower educated groups. Our results suggest that immigrants’ location decisions respond strongly to these long-run, technology-driven changes in their economic opportunities.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas Beerli & Ronald Indergand & Johannes S. Kunz, 2023. "The supply of foreign talent: how skill-biased technology drives the location choice and skills of new immigrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 681-718, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:36:y:2023:i:2:d:10.1007_s00148-022-00892-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-022-00892-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Yvonne Giesing, 2023. "The Impact of Technological Change on Immigration and Immigrants," CESifo Working Paper Series 10876, CESifo.
    2. Kunz, Johannes S. & Zhu, Anna, 2023. "Welfare Reform and Migrant's Long-Term Labor Market Integration," IZA Discussion Papers 16285, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Gaetano Basso & Giovanni Peri & Ahmed S. Rahman, 2020. "Computerization and immigration: Theory and evidence from the United States," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(4), pages 1457-1494, November.
    4. Rude, Britta & Giesing, Yvonne, 2022. "Technological Change and Immigration - A Race for Talent or of Displaced Workers," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264093, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Andreas Beerli & Ronald Indergand & Johannes S. Kunz, 2023. "The supply of foreign talent: how skill-biased technology drives the location choice and skills of new immigrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 681-718, April.
    6. Michal Burzynski, 2024. "Spatial and Occupational Mobility of Workers Due to Automation," LISER Working Paper Series 2024-04, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    7. Johannes Kunz & Anna Zhu, 2023. "Welfare Reform and Migrant’s Long-term Labor Market Integration," Papers 2023-05, Centre for Health Economics, Monash University.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigrant sorting; International migration; Skill-biased technical change; Information and communication technology; Skill supply;
    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
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand

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