Do immigrants working illegally reduce the natives' legal employment? Evidence from Italy
Abstract
The paper uses estimates, provided by the Central Statistical Office, of standard units of labour to examine how immigrants working (illegally) in the shadow economy affect the employment of (legal) labour in the official economy. The results of our cross sector-time series analysis of the demand for legal labour in the Italian economy between 1980 and 1995 show that the increase of illegal units of labour produces a reduction in the use of legal labour, albeit a very limited one. An analysis by sectors shows that the competitive effect of illegal foreign workers is not homogeneous and is strongest in the agricultural sector, while complementarity between the two categories of labour is evident in the non-tradable services sector. Furthermore, when the effects of illegal foreign and illegal native workers are compared, the former is smaller than the latter one, with illegal foreigners workers just reinforcing the impact of the illegal nationals on the labour market.Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by Springer in its journal Journal of Population Economics.
Volume (Year): 12 (1999)
Issue (Month): 1 ()
Pages: 135-154
Note: Received: 27 June 1997/Accepted: 31 August 1998
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Related research
Keywords: Illegal immigrants · underground economy · employment of legal workers;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
- F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Matteo Gomellini & Cormac O' Grada, 2011. "Outward and Inward Migrations in Italy: A Historical Perspective," Quaderni di storia economica (Economic History Working Papers) 08, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
- Epstein, Gil S & Weiss, Avi, 2001.
"A Theory of Immigration Amnesties,"
CEPR Discussion Papers
2830, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Gil S. Epstien & Avi Weiss, 2001. "A Theory of Immigration Amnesties," Working Papers 2001-09, Department of Economics, Bar-Ilan University.
- Epstein, Gil S. & Weiss, Avi, 2001. "A Theory of Immigration Amnesties," IZA Discussion Papers 302, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Michele Moretto & Sergio Vergalli, 2007.
"Migration Dynamics,"
"Marco Fanno" Working Papers
0053, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
- M. Moretto & Sergio Vergalli, 2008. "Migration dynamics," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 93(3), pages 223-265, 04.
- Michele Moretto & Sergio Vergalli, 2005. "Migration dynamics," Working Papers ubs0507, University of Brescia, Department of Economics.
- Sergio Vergalli & Michele Moretto, 2005. "Migration Dynamics," Working Papers 2005.108, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
- Javier Ferri & Antonio G. Gómez-Plana & Joan Martín-Montaner, .
"International inmigration and mobility across sectors: an exploration of alternative scenarios for Spain,"
Studies on the Spanish Economy
124, FEDEA.
- Javier Ferri & Antonio Gómez Gómez-Plana & Joan Martín Montaner, 2001. "International immigration and mobility across sectors: an exploration of alternative scenarios for Spain," Documentos de Trabajo - Lan Gaiak Departamento de EconomÃa - Universidad Pública de Navarra 0116, Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra.
- Gil S. Epstein & Avi Weiss, 2009.
"The Why, When and How of Immigration Amnesties,"
Working Papers
2009-24, Department of Economics, Bar-Ilan University.
- Gil Epstein & Avi Weiss, 2011. "The why, when, and how of immigration amnesties," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 285-316, January.
- Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj & Munch, Jakob R. & Seidelin, Claus Aastrup & Skaksen, Jan Rose, 2013. "Immigrant Workers and Farm Performance: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data," IZA Discussion Papers 7133, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Marina Murat & Sergio Paba, 2005. "I distretti industriali tra immigrazione e internazionalizzazione produttiva," Department of Economics 0517, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
- Franck Düvell, 2011. "Irregular Immigration, Economics and Politics," CESifo DICE Report, Ifo Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 9(3), pages 60-68, October.
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