Return migration, wage differentials, and the optimal migration duration

In simple static models, migration increases with the wage differential between host- and home-country. In a dynamic framework, and if migrations are temporary, the size of the migrant population in the host country depends also on the migration duration. This paper analyses optimal migration durations in a model which rationalises the decision of the migrant to return to his home country, despite persistently higher wages in the host country. The analysis shows that, if migrations are temporary, the optimal migration duration may decrease if the wage differential grows larger. Using micro data for Germany, the second part of the paper provides empirical evidence which is compatible with this hypothesis.     

Native-immigrant wage differentials in Greece: discrimination and assimilation

This article applies the Blinder–Oaxaca methodology in order to dissect the average earnings differentials between Greek workers and three different groups of immigrants into a part attributed to differences in characteristics and a part due to discrimination. It also seeks to identify the effect of assimilation (i.e. postmigration human capital) on immigrants’ earnings. We use information about 8429 individuals, of which 1185 are immigrants. The data are drawn from the Greek Labour Force Survey (2009). Our results suggest that discrimination is significantly higher for immigrants originating from non-EU countries than it is for EU foreigners, while it is negative for those who terminated education in Greece. Also, there is evidence that (i) post-migration human capital is a significant determinant of immigrants earnings, (ii) there is limited transferability of skills between sending countries and Greece and (iii) education is the main determinant of the wage gap between natives and immigrants.     

Permanent versus transitory wage differentials and the inequality-hours hypothesis

This paper disentangles the effect of inequality in permanent and transitory wages on hours worked by, first, estimating the two components for Swedish industries and, second, using the resulting estimates as explanatory variables in an hours-worked equation. Consistent with Bell and Freeman’s (2001) inequality-hours hypothesis, permanent wage differentials are found to have a positive effect on individuals’ hours of work while transitory wage differentials have no effect. However, the analysis also shows that, in estimated hours-worked equations, inequality in observed wages is potentially a good approximation for inequality in permanent wages.     

The use of quantile regressions in estimating gender wage differentials: a case study of the Philippines

Quantile regressions are used to analyse the size, components, and nature of the gender-earnings differentials as well as the returns to education by gender in the Philippines, over the entire conditional distribution of earnings, using data from the 1999 APIS survey. This approach allows more focused conclusions about the nature of gender-earnings differentials. Incorporating the quantile regression approach to the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition allows the localization of gender discrimination to particular quantiles of the earnings distribution and permits more targeted policy intervention.     

The composition of wage differentials between migrants and natives

We consider the role of unobservables, such as differences in search frictions, reservation wages, and productivities for the explanation of wage differentials between migrants and natives. We disentangle these by estimating an empirical general equilibrium search model with on-the-job search due to Bontemps et al. (1999) on segments of the labour market defined by occupation, age, and nationality using a large scale German administrative dataset.The native-migrant wage differential is then decomposed into several parts, and we focus especially on the component that we label “migrant effect”, being the difference in wage offers between natives and migrants in the same occupation-age segment in firms of the same productivity. Counterfactual decompositions of wage differentials allow us to identify and quantify their drivers, thus explaining within a common framework what is often labelled the unexplained wage gap.     

A comparative analysis of inter-industry wage differentials: before and after the Korean financial crisis

Korean economy has changed rapidly since the 1997 Korean financial crisis. This article investigates whether the inter-industry wage differentials in the Korean manufacturing industry are consistent over time and how the inter-industry wage structure has changed after the financial crisis. We used the 1995 and 1999 survey report on the wage structure–Korea. Our empirical results provide evidences for a wider inter-industry wage differentials and changes of the wage structure. After the crisis, company size, region (live in capital), sex, tenure, education are more critical to determine wages. According to factor analysis, the job quality factor is most closely related to wages before the crisis, while the industry attributes factor does in 1999.     

Trade liberalization,technology, relative factor supplies and the relative wage: evidence from the South

There is much controversy about the role that trade liberalization, technological change and relative factor supplies have played in bringing about changes in the relative wage of the unskilled workers. Much of the empirical work on this issue has focused on the industrial countries and paid little attention to developing countries. To fill this gap, this study develops a special data set to examine the relative wage behaviour of a large number of developing countries. An empirical model based on the theory is used to test different explanations of the relative wage change. As predicted by the technology explanation, the empirical analysis in the study finds a significant negative link between the relative wage of unskilled workers and the technology index. The analysis, however, does not find a significant role for labour supplies or trade liberalization in determining the relative wage of unskilled–skilled workers.     

Gender wage differentials and discrimination in Korea: comparison by knowledge intensity of industries

This study estimates the relative size of the non-productivity-related gender wage gap across industries with differing knowledge intensities. More specifically, a gender wage premium was estimated from a modified Mincerian earnings equation, and an Oaxaca's discrimination coefficient was computed. Empirical evidence indicates that gender wage differentials tend to be less subject to potential discrimination in knowledge-based industries than in other industries with lower knowledge intensity. The estimated discrimination effect is least noticeable in top hierarchical occupations such as professionals and technicians, while it is most sizeable in production workers and sales/service workers, regardless of industrial affiliation.     

职业学校流生的原因及控流的对策

近年来职业学校在校生流失比较严重,如何控制流生,稳定生源的数量,具有现实意义。     

The evolution of the returns to education and wage differentials in Brazil: a quantile approach

This paper uses quantile regression techniques to analyze the returns to education across the conditional distribution of wages from individuals separated both by gender and skin color, while accounting for the endogeneity of the education decisions. Using data from the Brazilian households survey (PNAD) for the years of 1988 and 1996, the results indicate that the returns to education are significantly heterogeneous across the distribution of earnings, as well as the wage gap between the groups, according to gender and skin color. Moreover, there has been a significant improvement in the wage differentials between the groups across the years.     

Domestic distortions,imperfect information and the brain drain

An earlier paper by Bhagwati and Hamada (1974) presented a theoretical analysis of the brain drain in the context of wage rigidity and unemployment. This paper extends the analysis by modifying the model to incorporate the phenomena of overqualification, internal diffusion of labor from urban to rural areas and imperfect information about the quality of labor. The welfare effect of the brain drain in the presence of these phenomena is analyzed.     

Efficiency,equality, income taxation and the brain drain: A second-best argument

This note conducts a second-best examination of the effect of the brain drain. If the size distribution of income is a welfare objective, lump-sum taxation is unavailable, and an Atkinson-type optimal income tax is used, it is shown that the opportunity to emigrate will create special difficulties for the LDC policy-maker.     

Intersectoral wage linkages: the case of Sweden

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether wage-setting in certain sectors of the Swedish economy affects wage-setting in other sectors. The theoretical background is the Scandinavian model of inflation, which states that wage-setting in the sectors exposed to international competition lead wage-setting in the sheltered sectors of the economy. The Johansen maximum likelihood cointegration approach is applied to quarterly data on Swedish sector wages for the period 1980:1–2002:2. Different vector error correction (VEC) models are created, based on assumptions as to which sectors are exposed to international competition and which are not. Granger causality tests are then carried out in the different restricted/unrestricted VEC models to test for sector wage leadership. The Granger causality tests provide strong evidence for the presence of intersectoral wage causality, but no evidence of a wage-leading role for the internationally exposed manufacturing sector.      

Return migration, human capital accumulation and the brain drain

In this paper we present a model that explains migrations as decisions that respond to where human capital can be acquired more efficiently, and where the return to human capital is highest. The basic framework is a dynamic Roy model in which a worker possesses two distinct skills that can be augmented by learning by doing. There are different implicit prices, in different countries and different rates of skill accumulation. Our analysis contributes to the literature on the selection of immigrants and return migrants by offering a richer framework that may help to accommodate selection of emigrants and return migrants that are not immediately compatible with the one-dimensional skill model. Our analysis also has implications for the debate on brain drain and brain gain. In the two skills model presented here, return migration can lead to a mitigation of the brain drain, or even the creation of a “brain gain”, where those who return bring the home country augmented local skills.     

上海人才外流的动因及对策研究

中国城市化进程的推进,新兴城市的快速崛起,加速了对上海、北京、广州、深圳一线城市的人才竞争。上海作为全国人才的聚集地,面临着基础性与高级人才流失的挑战。基于对上海市人才的抽样调查,采用Logistic回归及交互分析方法,研究上海人才外流的动因,并提出应对之策。研究表明,平衡的工作与生活设计、职业发展是影响上海市人才流动的主要因素。学历与职业发展、薪酬满意度与城市工作环境、当前公司工作年限与城市工作压力共同对离开上海的工作意愿产生作用。     

The brain drain, ‘educated unemployment’, human capital formation,and economic betterment1

Extending both the ‘harmful brain drain’ literature and the ‘beneficial brain gain’ literature, this paper analyzes both the negative and the positive impact of migration by skilled individuals in a unified framework. The paper extends the received literature on the ‘harmful brain drain’ by showing that in the short run, international migration can result in ‘educated unemployment’ and overeducation in developing countries, as well as a brain drain from these countries. A simulation suggests that the costs of ‘educated unemployment’ and overeducation can amount to significant losses for the individuals concerned, who may constitute a substantial proportion of the educated individuals. Adopting a dynamic framework, it is then shown that due to the positive externality effect of the prevailing, economy‐wide endowment of human capital on the formation of human capital, a relaxation in migration policy in both the current period and the preceding period can facilitate ‘take‐off’ of a developing country in the current period. Thus, it is suggested that while the migration of some educated individuals may reduce the social welfare of those who stay behind in the short run, it improves it in the long run.     

Temporary employment and segmentation in the Spanish labour market: An empirical analysis through the study of wage differentials

We aim to add empirical evidence to the already studied field of wage differentials between temporary and permanent workers in Spain. Our goal is to find out which determinants of wage differentials are relevant when explaining such differences. Furthermore, the endogeneity of such feature (the type of contract) is controlled for. The same exercise is done with two data sets: the ECHP and the Structure of Earnings Survey. Results show that wage differentials between temporary and permanent workers are explained by the differences in the distribution of personal and job characteristics in both groups, but not by differences in the rewards for those characteristics. These results remain mostly unchanged during the second part of the 1990s, using information from five waves of the ECHP, and are robust to different changes in the econometric specification.JEL Classification: J31, J41The authors would like to thank the participants in the 3rd Summer School of Labour Economics (organised by IZA in Amersee, Munich), in a seminar in the University of Alcalá and in another seminar in the European University Institute in Florence and especially Alison Booth, Luis Toharia, Juan F. Jimeno, Juan José Dolado and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions. Florentino Felgueroso kindly helped us with the handling of data. The usual disclaimer applies. The ECHP is being used on behalf of the contract reference ECHP/15/00 between the University of Alcalá and EUROSTAT.     

Labor Mobility and East Asian Integration

East Asian economic integration is commonly analyzed in the context of trade in goods and services and capital flows, while labor flows have been very much neglected. Yet labor flows in the region are rapidly growing, given the diversity in levels of economic development, employment opportunities and wage levels, and the existence of labor surplus and deficit countries. Labor migration poses more benefits than costs for both sending and receiving countries, but there are more sensitivities toward labor flows than trade and capital flows. The characteristics and government policies are different for the unskilled and semiskilled foreign workers and for the professionals and highly skilled. Regional cooperation among countries is needed to manage the flows, reduce the incidence of illegal and undocumented workers, reduce the transaction costs of migration, and protect the rights of these workers.