Immigrants' Responsiveness to Labor Market Conditions and Its Implications on Regional Disparities: Evidence from Spain

Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes and Sara De La Rica

No 1557, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Using data from the Spanish Labor Force Survey (Encuesta de Población Activa) from 1999 through 2004, we explore the role of regional employment opportunities in explaining the increasing immigrant flows of recent years despite the limited internal mobility on the part of natives. Subsequently, we investigate the policy question of whether immigration has helped reduced unemployment rate disparities across Spanish regions by attracting immigrant flows to regions offering better employment opportunities. Our results indicate that immigrants choose to reside in regions with larger employment rates and where their probability of finding a job is higher. In particular, and despite some differences depending on their origin, immigrants appear generally more responsive than their native counterparts to a higher likelihood of informal, self, or indefinite employment. More importantly, insofar the vast majority of immigrants locate in regions characterized by higher employment rates, immigration contributes to greasing the wheels of the Spanish labor market by narrowing regional unemployment rate disparities.

Keywords: immigrant location; immigrant workers; regional disparities; immigrant responsiveness; international migration; labor market conditions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2005-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

Published - published in: SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, 2010, 1 (1), 387-407

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