The Labor Market Impacts of Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants in Brazil

Mrittika Shamsuddin (), Pablo Acosta, Rovane Battaglin Schwengber (), Jedediah Fix () and Nikolas Pirani
Additional contact information
Mrittika Shamsuddin: Dalhousie University
Rovane Battaglin Schwengber: World Bank
Jedediah Fix: UNHCR
Nikolas Pirani: UNHCR

No 15384, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: As more and more Venezuelans leave their country, fleeing the economic and social crisis, the number of Venezuelans in Brazil has risen steadily since 2016, constituting about 18.6 percent of Brazil's 1.4 million refugee and migrant population as of October 2020. Past research finds that the impacts of forced displacement on the labor market outcomes of host community are mixed and tend to depend on country characteristics. This paper extends the previous literature by exploring the economic impact of Venezuelan influx on Roraima, the state bordering the República Bolivariana de Venezuela at the north and the main gateway of the Venezuelan refugees and migrants entering Brazil, and focusing on the formal sector employment of the host community. Using survey and administrative data and regression discontinuity frameworks, this paper finds that in the short-run, the Venezuelan influx led to an overall increase in unemployment and a decrease in informal sector employment, specially among the female workers in Roraima. Focusing on the host community, the findings suggest that Venezuelan influx led to increase in formal sector employment among the Brazilians, while the effect on both overall and native wages are heterogenous, suggesting distribution impacts and need for gender targeted policies.

Keywords: labor market impacts; Venezuelan refugees and migrants; host community; forced displacement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F15 F22 H20 H50 J21 J31 J61 O15 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 62 pages
Date: 2022-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int, nep-iue, nep-lab, nep-mig and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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