The Global Economic Crisis and Migrant Workers: The Case of the Construction Sector in Europe

This paper examines the employment response of native and migrant workers over the business cycle in the construction sectors of European countries between 2008 and 2011. Using a dynamic model (Generalized Method of Moments), which accounts for ‘intergroup substitutability’, we observe that differences in the cyclical employment patterns of migrants and natives in the construction sector may be due to a potential selection of EU and non-EU migrants who are disproportionately prone to cyclical fluctuations in temporary jobs or a higher turnover rate.