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The Immigrant Earnings Disadvantage across the Earnings and Skills Distributions: The Case of Immigrants from the EU’s New Member States in Ireland

Author

Listed:
  • Barrett, Alan

    (ESRI, Dublin)

  • McGuinness, Seamus

    (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin)

  • O`Brien, Martin

    (University of Wollongong)

Abstract

As the movement of population from the New Member States (NMS) of the EU to the older members is a relatively new flow, it is important to build up our knowledge of who is moving within Europe and how they are performing in their destinations. In this paper, we analyse the earnings of immigrants in Ireland from the NMS using a new large-scale dataset on employees in Ireland. In so doing, we add to the emerging strand in the literature on immigrant earnings that looks beyond average earnings differentials and considers variations in such differentials across the earnings and skills distributions. We do this partly by using quantile regressions and also by analyzing earnings differentials within educational categories. We find that the average earnings difference between immigrants from the NMS and natives is between 10 percent and 18 percent, depending on the controls used. However, the difference is found to be either non-existent or low for people with low skill levels and for people at the lower end of the earnings distribution. The difference is higher for those at the upper ends of the skills and earnings distributions. This suggests that the transferability of human capital is a crucial determinant of the immigrant-native earnings gap for NMS immigrants in Ireland.

Suggested Citation

  • Barrett, Alan & McGuinness, Seamus & O`Brien, Martin, 2008. "The Immigrant Earnings Disadvantage across the Earnings and Skills Distributions: The Case of Immigrants from the EU’s New Member States in Ireland," IZA Discussion Papers 3479, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3479
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    Cited by:

    1. Mary J. Keeney, 2010. "A Quality Adjusted Measure of Labour Services for Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 41(2), pages 149-172.
    2. Kahanec, Martin, 2012. "Skilled Labor Flows: Lessons from the European Union," IZA Research Reports 49, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. McGuinness, Seamus & Byrne, Delma, 2014. "Examining the Relationships between Labour Market Mismatches, Earnings and Job Satisfaction among Immigrant Graduates in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 8440, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Dobruszkes, Frédéric, 2009. "New Europe, new low-cost air services," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 423-432.
    5. Thomas Turner, 2010. "The jobs immigrants do: issues of displacement and marginalisation in the Irish labour market," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 24(2), pages 318-336, June.
    6. Kahanec, Martin & Zaiceva, Anzelika & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2009. "Lessons from Migration after EU Enlargement," IZA Discussion Papers 4230, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Martti Randveer & Tairi Room, 2009. "The structure of migration in Estonia: survey-based evidence," Bank of Estonia Working Papers 2009-01, Bank of Estonia, revised 14 Jul 2009.
    8. Hazans, Mihails & Philips, Kaia, 2011. "The Post-Enlargement Migration Experience in the Baltic Labor Markets," IZA Discussion Papers 5878, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Martti Randveer & Tairi Rõõm, 2011. "The Structure of Migration in Estonia: Survey-Based Evidence," Research in Economics and Business: Central and Eastern Europe, Tallinn School of Economics and Business Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, vol. 3(1).
    10. Sarah Voitchovsky & Bertrand Maitre & Brian Nolan, 2012. "Wage Inequality in Ireland’s “Celtic Tiger” Boom," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 99-133.
    11. FitzGerald, John & Bergin, Adele & Conefrey, Thomas & Diffney, Sean & Duffy, David & Kearney, Ide & Lyons, Sean & Malaguzzi Valeri, Laura & Mayor, Karen & Richard S. J. Tol, 2008. "Medium-Term Review 2008-2015, No. 11," Forecasting Report, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number MTR11.
    12. McGinnity, Frances & Quinn, Emma & O'Connell, Philip J. & Donnelly, Nora, 2011. "Annual Monitoring Report on Integration 2010," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number BKMNEXT183.
    13. Tony Fahey & Bryan Fanning, 2010. "Immigration and Socio-spatial Segregation in Dublin, 1996-2006," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(8), pages 1625-1642, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    immigrant earnings; Ireland; new member states; quantile regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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