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Immigrant Economic Assimilation: Evidence from UK Longitudinal Data between 1978 and 2006

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  • Sara Lemos

Abstract

We exploit a large and long longitudinal dataset to estimate the immigrant-native earnings gap at entry and over time for the UK between 1978 and 2006. That is, we attempt to separately estimate cohort and assimilation effects. We also estimate the associated immigrant earnings growth rate and immigrant-native earnings convergence rate. Our estimates suggest that immigrants from more recent cohorts fare better than earlier ones at entry. Furthermore, the earnings of immigrants from more recent cohorts catch up faster with natives' earnings. While the convergence took over 30 years for those entering in the post-war, it only took half as long for those entering in the early 2000s. This earnings growth is fastest in the first 10 years, and it considerably slows down after 30 years.

Suggested Citation

  • Sara Lemos, 2011. "Immigrant Economic Assimilation: Evidence from UK Longitudinal Data between 1978 and 2006," Discussion Papers in Economics 11/39, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester, revised Oct 2011.
    • Handle: RePEc:lec:leecon:11/39
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Roupakias, Stelios, 2023. "Immigrant Assimilation in the Greek Labor Market," MPRA Paper 118351, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Altorjai, Szilvia, 2013. "Over-qualification of immigrants in the UK," ISER Working Paper Series 2013-11, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    3. Anders, Jake & Burgess, Simon & Portes, Jonathan, 2018. "The Long-Term Outcomes of Refugees: Tracking the Progress of the East African Asians," IZA Discussion Papers 11609, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Karoly Fazekas & Zsuzsa Blasko (ed.), 2016. "The Hungarian Labour Market 2016," The Hungarian Labour Market Yearbooks, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, number 2016, December.
    5. Sara Lemos, 2011. "Mind the Gap: What Gap? A Detailed Picture of the Immigrant-Native Earnings Gap in the UK using Longitudinal Data between 1978 and 2006," Discussion Papers in Economics 11/38, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester, revised Oct 2011.
    6. Henna Busk & Signe Jauhiainen, 2022. "The Careers of Immigrants in Finland: Empirical Evidence for Genders and Year of Immigration," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 2009-2030, December.
    7. Kaya, Ezgi, 2024. "Labour Market Performance of Immigrants: New Evidence from Linked Administrative Data," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1418, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Martin Ruhs, 2017. "The Impact of Acquiring EU Status on the Earnings of East European Migrants in the UK: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 716-750, December.
    9. Lemos, Sara, 2017. "Mind the gap: A detailed picture of the immigrant-native earnings gap in the UK using longitudinal data between 1978 and 2006," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 57-75.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigration; assimilation; wages; earnings; earnings-gap; UK.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • J82 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Labor Force Composition
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

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