Migration as an Adjustment Mechanism in the Crisis? A Comparison of Europe and the United States 2006-2016

Julia Jauer, Thomas Liebig, John Martin () and Patrick Puhani
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Julia Jauer: Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS), Germany

No 11328, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We estimate whether migration can be an equilibrating force in the labour market by comparing pre- and post-crisis migration movements at the regional level in both Europe and the United States, and their association with asymmetric labour market shocks. Based on fixed-effects regressions using regional panel data, we find that Europe's migratory response to unemployment shocks was almost identical to that recorded in the United States after the crisis. Our estimates suggest that, if all measured population changes in Europe were due to migration for employment purposes – i.e. an upper-bound estimate – up to about a quarter of the asymmetric labour market shock would be absorbed by migration within a year. However, in Europe and especially in the Eurozone, the reaction to a very large extent stems from migration of recent EU accession country citizens as well as of third-country nationals.

Keywords: Europe; Eurozone; labour market adjustment; economic crisis; migration; free mobility; United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F15 F22 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2018-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec, nep-lab and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - published in: Journal of Population Economics, 2019, 32, 1-22

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Related works:
Journal Article: Migration as an adjustment mechanism in the crisis? A comparison of Europe and the United States 2006–2016 (2019)
Working Paper: Migration as an adjustment mechanism in the crisis? A comparison of Europe and the United States 2006-2016 (2018)
Working Paper: Migration as an adjustment mechanism in the crisis? A comparison of Europe and the United States 2006-2016 (2018)
Working Paper: Migration as an Adjustment Mechanism in the Crisis? A Comparison of Europe and the United States 2006-2016 (2018)
Working Paper: Migration as an adjustment mechanism in the crisis? A comparison of Europe and the United States 2006-2016 (2018)
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