Labour Migrant Adjustments in the Aftermath of the Financial Crisis

Bernt Bratsberg (), Oddbjørn Raaum and Knut Røed ()

No 8291, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Based on individual longitudinal data, we examine the evolution of employment and earnings of post-EU accession Eastern European labour immigrants to Norway for a period of up to eight years after entry. We find that the migrants were particularly vulnerable to the negative labour demand shock generated by the financial crisis. During the winter months of 2008/09, the fraction of immigrant men claiming unemployment insurance benefits rose from below 2 to 14 per cent. Some of this increase turned out to be persistent, and unemployment remained considerably higher among immigrants than natives even three years after the crisis. Although we find that negative labour demand shocks raise the probability of return migration, the majority of the labour migrants directly affected by the downturn stayed in Norway and claimed unemployment insurance benefits.

Keywords: social insurance; assimilation; migration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 H55 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2014-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-ias, nep-lab, nep-mig and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published in: Tarmo Valkonen and Vesa Vihriälä (eds.): The Nordic model – challenged but capable of reform, TemaNord 2014:531

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Working Paper: Labour migrant adjustments in the aftermath of the financial crisis (2014)
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