The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Andreas Bergh. Photo.

Andreas Bergh

Senior lecturer

Andreas Bergh. Photo.

Explaining the labor market gaps between immigrants and natives in the OECD

Author

  • Andreas Bergh

Summary, in English

In most OECD-countries immigrants have lower employment and higher unemployment than natives. The gap in labor market outcomes is larger in countries with more immigrant friendly attitudes. This paper suggests that in countries where labor market institutions are less competitive, native workers face less direct wage competition from immigration. As a result, the general population is more immigrant-friendly and income inequality is dampened. On the other hand, employment among immigrants suffers, thwarting the potential economic benefits from immigration. Empirical analysis of 19–28 OECD countries using Bayesian model averaging to cope with the model selection problem, provide support for the relevance of labor market institutions against other plausible explanations of immigrant labor market outcomes. In particular, the unemployment gap is bigger in countries where collective bargaining agreements cover a larger share of the labor market.

Department/s

  • Department of Economics
  • Centre for Economic Demography

Publishing year

2017

Language

English

Publication/Series

Migration Letters

Volume

14

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

London: European Business School, Regent's College

Topic

  • Economics

Keywords

  • labor market segregation
  • immigration
  • inequality

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1741-8984