IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp540.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

High Skilled Migration and the Exertion of Effort by the Local Population

Author

Listed:
  • Epstein, Gil S.

    (Bar-Ilan University)

  • Kunze, Astrid

    (Norwegian School of Economics)

  • Ward-Warmedinger, Melanie E.

    (European Central Bank)

Abstract

The design of optimal immigration policy, particularly in the face of the spiralling demand for highly skilled workers, such as IT workers and engineers, is a topical issue in the policy debate as well as the economic literature. In this paper, we present empirical evidence from firm level data collected in 2000 on the demand in Europe for highly skilled workers in general and abroad and their determinants. Major findings are that the fraction of highly skilled recruited from the international labour market is very small, and it seems that foreign and domestic workers are very similar in terms of formal education, that is subject of specialisation, and job characteristics. We suggest an efficiency wage model that can explain why firms recruit foreign workers in small numbers and are willing to pay migrants the same wage as local workers and at the same time are willing to pay for moving costs, for example, that are specific to immigrating workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Epstein, Gil S. & Kunze, Astrid & Ward-Warmedinger, Melanie E., 2002. "High Skilled Migration and the Exertion of Effort by the Local Population," IZA Discussion Papers 540, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp540
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp540.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George J. Borjas, 2021. "The Economic Benefits from Immigration," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 13, pages 411-430, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Epstein, Gil S. & Hillman, Arye L., 2003. "Unemployed immigrants and voter sentiment in the welfare state," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(7-8), pages 1641-1655, August.
    3. Bauer, Thomas K. & Lofstrom, Magnus & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2000. "Immigration Policy, Assimilation of Immigrants and Natives' Sentiments towards Immigrants: Evidence from 12 OECD-Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 187, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Rachel Griffith, 1999. "Using the ARD establishment level data to look at foreign ownership and productivity in the UK," IFS Working Papers W99/06, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    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. Griffith, Rachel, 1999. "Using the ARD Establishment Level Data to Look at Foreign Ownership and Productivity in the United Kingdom," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(456), pages 416-442, June.
    7. Bell, Brian D, 1997. "The Performance of Immigrants in the United Kingdom: Evidence from the GHS," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(441), pages 333-344, March.
    8. Imbens, Guido W. & Lancaster, Tony, 1996. "Efficient estimation and stratified sampling," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 289-318, October.
    9. Greenwood, Michael J & McDowell, John M, 1986. "The Factor Market Consequences of U.S. Immigration," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 24(4), pages 1738-1772, December.
    10. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 4, pages 69-91, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    11. Dustmann, C, 1993. "Earnings Adjustment of Temporary Migrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 6(2), pages 153-168, May.
    12. George J. Borjas, 1994. "The Economics of Immigration," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1667-1717, December.
    13. Harry Coccossis & Peter Nijkamp, 2007. "Regional Science in Perspective," SCIENZE REGIONALI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2007(2), pages 137-140.
    14. Ortega, Javier, 2000. "Pareto-Improving Immigration in an Economy with Equilibrium Unemployment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(460), pages 92-112, January.
    15. DaVanzo, Julie, 1983. "Repeat Migration in the United States: Who Moves Back and Who Moves On?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 65(4), pages 552-559, November.
    16. Shapiro, Carl & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 433-444, June.
    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. Gil S. Epstein, 2013. "Frontier issues of the political economy of migration," Chapters, in: Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, chapter 22, pages 411-431, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Thomas K. Bauer & Astrid Kunze, 2004. "The demand for high-skilled workers and immigration policy," Brussels Economic Review, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 47(1), pages 77-88.
    3. Thomas Bauer & Astrid Kunze, 2003. "The Demand for High-skilled Worker and Immigration Policy," RWI Discussion Papers 0011, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.
    4. Michael Landesmann & Mario Liebensteiner & Robert Stehrer, 2010. "Migrants and Economic Performance in the EU15: their allocations across countries, industries and job types and their (productivity) growth impacts at the sectoral and regional levels," FIW Research Reports series II-009, FIW.
    5. Bossler, Mario, 2013. "Recruiting abroad: the role of foreign affinity and labour market scarcity," IAB-Discussion Paper 201319, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    6. repec:zbw:rwidps:0011 is not listed on IDEAS

    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. Bauer, Thomas K. & Lofstrom, Magnus & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2000. "Immigration Policy, Assimilation of Immigrants and Natives' Sentiments towards Immigrants: Evidence from 12 OECD-Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 187, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Uebelmesser Silke, 2006. "To Go or Not to Go: Emigration from Germany," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 211-231, May.
    3. Smolny, Werner & Rieber, Alexander, 2016. "Labour market integration of immigrants - Evidence for the German guest workers," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145629, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Zaiceva, A. & Zimmermann, K.F., 2016. "Migration and the Demographic Shift," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 119-177, Elsevier.
    5. Viola Angelini & Laura Casi & Luca Corazzini, 2015. "Life satisfaction of immigrants: does cultural assimilation matter?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(3), pages 817-844, July.
    6. Hatton, Timothy J. & Wheatley Price, Stephen, 1998. "Migration, Migrants and Policy in the United Kingdom," CEPR Discussion Papers 1960, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Mark Levels & Jaap Dronkers & Christopher Jencks, 2017. "Contextual explanations for numeracy and literacy skill disparities between native and foreign-born adults in western countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(3), pages 1-25, March.
    8. Mathias Sinning, 2007. "Wealth and Asset Holdings of Immigrants in Germany," Ruhr Economic Papers 0030, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    9. Dustmann, Christian & Kirchkamp, Oliver, 2002. "The optimal migration duration and activity choice after re-migration," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 351-372, April.
    10. Brenzel, Hanna & Reichelt, Malte, 2015. "Job mobility as a new explanation for the immigrant-native wage gap : a longitudinal analysis for the German labor market," IAB-Discussion Paper 201512, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    11. Martin Kahanec & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2008. "Migration and Globalization: Challenges and Perspectives for the Research Infrastructure," RatSWD Working Papers 51, German Data Forum (RatSWD).
    12. Moreno-Galbis, Eva & Tritah, Ahmed, 2016. "The effects of immigration in frictional labor markets: Theory and empirical evidence from EU countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 76-98.
    13. Hannah Zillessen, 2022. "Uncertainty, Citizenship & Migrant Saving Choices," Economics Series Working Papers 1008, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    14. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht, 2011. "Migration and Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 327-439, Elsevier.
    15. Sinning, Mathias, 2007. "Wealth and Asset Holdings of Immigrants in Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 3089, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. repec:zbw:rwimat:004 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Milo Bianchi, 2013. "Immigration Policy and Self-Selecting Migrants," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 15(1), pages 1-23, February.
    18. Jens Ruhose, 2015. "Microeconometric Analyses on Economic Consequences of Selective Migration," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 61.
    19. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr, 2011. "Economic Impacts of Immigration: A Survey," Finnish Economic Papers, Finnish Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 1-32, Spring.
    20. Sebastian Gundel & Heiko Peters, "undated". "Assimilation and Cohort Effects for German Immigrants," Working Papers 200123, Institute of Spatial and Housing Economics, Munster Universitary.
    21. Lang Kevin & Siniver Erez, 2009. "The Return to English in a Non-English Speaking Country: Russian Immigrants and Native Israelis in Israel," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-30, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    globalization; migration; highly skilled workers; firm data; labour demand;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • 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
    • L20 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iza:izadps:dp540. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    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.