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Opening the labor market to qualified immigrants: a double-edged sword for native employees

Author

Listed:
  • Nicolò Gatti

    (Istituto di Economia Politica (IdEP), Facoltà di Scienze Economiche, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Svizzera)

  • Fabrizio Mazzonna

    (Istituto di Economia Politica (IdEP), Facoltà di Scienze Economiche, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Svizzera)

  • Raphaël Parchet

    (Istituto di Economia Politica (IdEP), Facoltà di Scienze Economiche, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Svizzera)

  • Giovanni Pica

    (Istituto di Economia Politica (IdEP), Facoltà di Scienze Economiche, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Svizzera)

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of opening the labor market to qualified immigrants who hold fully equivalent diplomas as native citizens and share the same mother tongue. Leveraging the 2002 opening of the Swiss labor market to qualified workers from the European Union, we show that the policy led to a large inflow of young immigrants, with highly heterogeneous effects on the wages and employment status of qualified Swiss employees. While incumbent employees experienced a wage gain and a decrease in the likelihood of becom- ing inactive, the opposite happened to young native workers entering the labor market after the policy change.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicolò Gatti & Fabrizio Mazzonna & Raphaël Parchet & Giovanni Pica, 2023. "Opening the labor market to qualified immigrants: a double-edged sword for native employees," IdEP Economic Papers 2201, USI Università della Svizzera italiana.
    • Handle: RePEc:lug:wpidep:2201
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    iqualified immigration; worker substitutability; experience;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • 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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