Most previously used measures of immigrant labor market assimilation will be biased if there is non-random emigration of immigrants. We use longitudinal data on immigration to Sweden 1970-1990 to examine the extent and pattern of immigrant emigration and its consequences for measures of assimilation. Large fractions of the immigrants leave the host country shortly after arrival; within five years, more than a quarter of the people studied emigrated. As expected, economic migrants are much more likely to emigrate than political ones. Further, within these two groups, it is the least economically successful who leave. This creates the impression that immigrants’ well-being relative to natives improves with time in Sweden. However, not adjusting for emigration leads to overestimating the rate of economic assimilation, for Nordic and OECD immigrants by about much as 75 percent.90 percent or more.
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Paper provided by Uppsala University, Department of Economics in its series Working Paper Series with number
2000:13.
Length: 38 pages Date of creation: 20 Sep 2000 Date of revision: Publication status: Published in Swedish Economic Policy Review, 2000, pages 163-204. Handle: RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2000_013
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Find related papers by JEL classification: F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
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References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Robert J. LaLonde & Robert H. Topel, 1992.
"The Assimilation of Immigrants in the U. S. Labor Market,"
NBER Chapters,
in: Immigration and the Workforce: Economic Consequences for the United States and Source Areas, pages 67-92
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!]
George J. Borjas, 1991.
"Immigration and Self-Selection,"
NBER Chapters,
in: Immigration, Trade and the Labor Market, pages 29-76
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!]
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