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A Meta-Analytic Assessment of the Effect of Immigration on Wages

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Author Info
Simonetta Longhi () (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Peter Nijkamp () (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Jacques Poot () (University of Waikato, Hamilton - New Zealand)

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Abstract

In our increasingly interconnected and open world, international migration is becoming an important socio-economic phenomenon for many countries. Since the early 1980s, many studies have been undertaken of the impact of immigration on host labour markets. Borjas (2003) noted that the estimated effect of immigration on the wage of native workers varies widely from study to study and sometimes even within the same study. In addition, these effects cluster around zero. Such a small effect is a rather surprising outcome, given that in a closed competitive labour market an increase in labour supply may be expected to exert a downward pressure on wages. We revisit this issue by applying meta-analytic techniques to a sample of eighteen papers, which altogether generated 348 estimates of the percentage change in the wage of a native worker with respect to a one percentage point increase in the ratio of immigrants over native workers. While many studies in our sample employ US data, estimates are also obtained from Germany, The Netherlands, France, Norway, Austria, Israel and Australia. Our analysis shows that results vary across countries and are inter alia related to the type of modelling approach. Technical issues such as publication bias and quality of the estimates are addressed as well. A negative but small effect of immigration on wages of native groups with similar skills appears rather robust.

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Paper provided by Tinbergen Institute in its series Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers with number 04-134/3.

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Date of creation: 10 Dec 2004
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Handle: RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20040134

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Related research
Keywords: Immigration; Labour market; Factor substitution; Meta-analysis;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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  1. David Card & John DiNardo, 2000. "Do Immigrant Inflows Lead to Native Outflows?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 360-367, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Hartog, Joop & Zorlu, Aslan, 2002. "The Effect of Immigration on Wages in Three European Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 642, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 1998. "East-West Trade and Migration: The Austro-German Case," IZA Discussion Papers 02, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  4. Orley Ashenfelter & Colm Harmon & Hessel Oosterbeek, 1999. "A Review of Estimates of the Schooling/Earnings Relationship, with Tests for Publication Bias," Working Papers 804, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. David Card, 1996. "Immigrant Inflows, Native Outflows, and the Local Labor Market Impacts of Higher Immigration," Working Papers 747, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Rachel M. Friedberg, 2001. "The Impact Of Mass Migration On The Israeli Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 116(4), pages 1373-1408, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Neumark, David & Wascher, William, 1998. "Is the Time-Series Evidence on Minimum Wage Effects Contaminated by Publication Bias?," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 36(3), pages 458-70, July.
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  8. Florax, R.J.G.M., 2002. "Accounting for dependence among study results in Meta-Analysis: methodology and applications to the valuation and use of natural resources," Serie Research Memoranda 0005, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Welch, Finis, 1979. "Effects of Cohort Size on Earnings: The Baby Boom Babies' Financial Bust," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages S65-97, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Grossman, Jean Baldwin, 1982. "The Substitutability of Natives and Immigrants in Production," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(4), pages 596-603, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Addison, Thomas & Worswick, Christopher, 2002. "The Impact of Immigration on the Earnings of Natives: Evidence from Australian Micro Data," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 78(240), pages 68-78, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  21. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1995. "Time-Series Minimum-Wage Studies: A Meta-analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 238-43, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Joseph Altonji & David Card, 1989. "The Effects of Immigration on the Labor Market Outcome of Less-Skilled Natives," Working Papers 636, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
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  24. Borjas, George J., 1999. "The economic analysis of immigration," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 28, pages 1697-1760 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  26. Stephen B. Jarrell & T. D. Stanley, 1990. "A meta-analysis of the union-nonunion wage gap," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 44(1), pages 54-67, October.
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  28. Roberto Pedace, 1998. "The Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market for Native-Born Workers: Incorporating the Dynamics of Internal Migration," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 24(4), pages 449-462, Fall. [Downloadable!]
  29. De New, John P & Zimmermann, Klaus F, 1994. "Native Wage Impacts of Foreign Labor: A Random Effects Panel Analysis," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 177-92.
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  30. Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot, 2005. "The Last Word on the Wage Curve?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 19(3), pages 421-450, 07. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  31. Greenwood, Michael J. & Hunt, Gary L. & Kohli, Ulrich, 1997. "The factor-market consequences of unskilled immigration to the United States," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 1-28, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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