The Role of Unemployment and Job Change When Estimating the Returns to Migration

Julian Emmler () and Bernd Fitzenberger ()
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Julian Emmler: Humboldt University Berlin
Bernd Fitzenberger: Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg

No 13740, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Estimating the returns to migration from East to West Germany, we focus on pre-migration employment dynamics, earnings uncertainty, and job change. Migrants are found to be negatively selected with respect to labor market outcomes, with a large drop in earnings and employment during the last few months before migration. We find sizeable positive earnings and employment gains of migration both in comparison to staying or job change. The gains vary considerably with pre-migration earnings and with the counterfactual considered. Future migrants have worse expectations for their labor market prospects in the East and migrants show a greater openness to mobility.

Keywords: migration; returns; selection; unemployment; moving costs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J61 O15 P25 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 70 pages
Date: 2020-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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