Identifying earnings assimilation of immigrants under changing macroeconomic conditions
Authors:
Barth, Erling, Bernt Bratsberg and Oddbjørn Raaum
Year:
2004
Reference:
The Scandinavian Journal of Economics
106(1), March 2004: 1-22.Summary
Failure to account for differences between immigrants and natives in their responsiveness to changes in macroeconomic conditions may bias estimates of assimilation effects on immigrant earnings. Using Norwegian register data from 1980 to 1996, we first establish that earnings of immigrants from non-OECD countries exhibit greater sensitivity to local unemployment than do earnings of natives. The empirical analysis further reveals that standard methods of estimation—which fail to consider differential immigrant and native responsiveness—understate earnings growth and overstate cohort differentials among non-OECD immigrants. These biases are attributable to trends in macroeconomic conditions over the sample period.
JEL:
J61, J31
Keywords:
Immigrants, earnings assimilation, labour market conditions
Project:
Oppdragsgiver: Norges forskningsrådOppdragsgivers prosjektnr.:
Frisch prosjekt: 1103 - Assimilation and business cycle effects on immigrant earnings