Moving Up or Down? Immigration and the Selection of Natives Across Occupations and Locations

53 Pages Posted: 31 Oct 2016 Last revised: 28 Apr 2023

See all articles by Javier Ortega

Javier Ortega

Kingston University London; London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Government; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA); University College London - CReAM - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration

Gregory Verdugo

Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne - Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne (CES)

Abstract

Exploiting a large French panel for 1976-2007, we examine the impact of low-educated immigration on the labour market outcomes of blue-collar natives initially in jobs where immigrants became overrepresented in the last decades. Immigrant inflows generate substantial reallocations of natives across locations and occupations. Location movers are negatively selected while occupation movers are positively selected and move towards better paid-jobs characterised by less routine tasks. As a result, controlling for composition effects has an important quantitative impact on the estimated effects of immigration. Low-educated immigration generally lowers the wages of blue-collar workers, but its impact is heterogeneous across sectors.

Keywords: employment, immigration, wages

JEL Classification: J15, J31

Suggested Citation

Ortega, Javier and Verdugo, Gregory, Moving Up or Down? Immigration and the Selection of Natives Across Occupations and Locations. IZA Discussion Paper No. 10303, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2861088 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2861088

Javier Ortega (Contact Author)

Kingston University London ( email )

Penrhyn road
London, KT1 2EE
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London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Government

United Kingdom

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

University College London - CReAM - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration ( email )

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London, WC1H 0AX
United Kingdom

Gregory Verdugo

Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne - Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne (CES) ( email )

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106-112 Boulevard de l'Hôpital
Paris Cedex 13, 75647
France

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