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Consequences of immigrating during a recession: Evidence from the US Refugee Resettlement program

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  • Mask Joshua

    (Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA)

Abstract

Are there long-term labor consequences in migrating to the US during a recession? For most immigrants, credibly estimating this effect is difficult because of selective migration. Some immigrants may not move if economic conditions are not favorable. However, identification is possible for refugees as their arrival dates are exogenously determined through the US Refugee Resettlement program. A one percentage point increase in the arrival national unemployment rate reduces refugee wages by 1.98% and employment probability by 1.57 percentage points after 5 years.

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  • Mask Joshua, 2020. "Consequences of immigrating during a recession: Evidence from the US Refugee Resettlement program," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-31, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:izajdm:v:11:y:2020:i:1:p:31:n:18
    DOI: 10.2478/izajodm-2020-0021
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    Cited by:

    1. Seonho Shin, 2022. "Evaluating the Effect of the Matching Grant Program for Refugees: An Observational Study Using Matching, Weighting, and the Mantel-Haenszel Test," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 103-133, March.
    2. Toman Barsbai & Andreas Steinmayr & Christoph Winter, 2022. "Immigrating into a Recession: Evidence from Family Migrants to the U.S," Working Papers 2022-01, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    3. Michael A Clemens, 2022. "The economic and fiscal effects on the United States from reduced numbers of refugees and asylum seekers," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 38(3), pages 449-486.
    4. Caitlin Bletscher & Sara Spiers, 2023. "“Step by Step We Were Okay Now”: An Exploration of the Impact of Social Connectedness on the Well-Being of Congolese and Iraqi Refugee Women Resettled in the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(7), pages 1-27, March.
    5. Mask, Joshua, 2023. "Salary history bans and healing scars from past recessions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    6. Palsson, Craig, 2023. "The forces of path dependence: Haiti's refugee camps, 1937–2009," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    7. Gabriele Lucchetti & Alessandro Ruggieri, 2023. "Unlucky migrants: Scarring effect of recessions on the assimilation of the foreign born," Discussion Papers 2023-09, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    8. Jennifer Edmonds & Antoine Flahault, 2021. "Refugees in Canada during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-16, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    immigration; labor market outcomes; settlement policies; recession;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • 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
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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