IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp15426.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Skill Downgrading among Refugees and Economic Immigrants in Germany: Evidence from the Syrian Refugee Crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Nikolov, Plamen

    (Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science)

  • Salarpour Goodarzi, Leila

    (Binghamton University, New York)

  • Titus, David

    (University of Victoria)

Abstract

Upon arrival to a new country, many immigrants face job downgrading, a phenomenon describing workers being in jobs far below where they would be assigned based on their skills. Downgrading leads to immigrants receiving lower returns to the same skills than natives. The level of downgrading could depend on the type of immigrant and numerous factors. This study examines the determinants of skill downgrading among two types of immigrants – refugees and economic immigrants – in the German labor markets between 1984 and 2018. We find that refugees downgrade more than economic immigrants, and this discrepancy between the two groups persists over time. We show that language skill improvements exert a strong influence on subsequent labor market outcomes of both groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Nikolov, Plamen & Salarpour Goodarzi, Leila & Titus, David, 2022. "Skill Downgrading among Refugees and Economic Immigrants in Germany: Evidence from the Syrian Refugee Crisis," IZA Discussion Papers 15426, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15426
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp15426.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2009. "Work and money: payoffs by ethnic identity and gender," Research in Labor Economics, in: Ethnicity and Labor Market Outcomes, pages 3-30, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    2. Alberto Bisin & Eleonora Patacchini & Thierry Verdier & Yves Zenou, 2011. "Ethnic identity and labour market outcomes of immigrants in Europe [Assessing the oppositional culture explanation for racial/ethnic differences in school performance]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 26(65), pages 57-92.
    3. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Assimilation, Changes in Cohort Quality, and the Earnings of Immigrants," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 2, pages 3-29, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Courtney Brell & Christian Dustmann & Ian Preston, 2020. "The Labor Market Integration of Refugee Migrants in High-Income Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(1), pages 94-121, Winter.
    5. Yao, Y. & van Ours, J.C., 2015. "Language Skills and Labor Market Performance of Immigrants in the Netherlands," Other publications TiSEM 8df5e344-eb4e-4c90-9429-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    6. Teresa Casey & Christian Dustmann, 2010. "Immigrants' Identity, Economic Outcomes and the Transmission of Identity across Generations," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(542), pages 31-51, February.
    7. George J. Borjas, 1982. "The Earnings of Male Hispanic Immigrants in the United States," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 35(3), pages 343-353, April.
    8. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 4, pages 69-91, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    9. Sara Lemos, 2014. "Labour Market Effects of Eastern European Migration in Wales," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 82(5), pages 524-548, September.
    10. Ilana Redstone Akresh, 2008. "Occupational Trajectories of Legal US Immigrants: Downgrading and Recovery," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 34(3), pages 435-456, September.
    11. Weiping Kostenko & Mark Harris & Xueyan Zhao, 2012. "Occupational transition and country-of-origin effects in the early stage occupational assimilation of immigrants: some evidence from Australia," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(31), pages 4019-4035, November.
    12. Yao, Yuxin & van Ours, Jan C., 2015. "Language skills and labor market performance of immigrants in the Netherlands," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 76-85.
    13. Sara Lemos, 2014. "Labour Market Effects of Eastern European Migration in Wales," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 82(5), pages 524-548, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. García-Suaza, Andrés & Mondragón-Mayo, Angie & Sarango-Iturralde, Alexander, 2024. "Occupational downgrading of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia: Do work permits Improve occupational mobility?," Documentos de Trabajo 21028, Universidad del Rosario.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Plamen Nikolov & Leila Salarpour & David Titus, 2021. "Skill Downgrading Among Refugees and Economic Immigrants in Germany," Papers 2111.00319, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2022.
    2. Verdier, Thierry & Zenou, Yves, 2017. "The role of social networks in cultural assimilation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 15-39.
    3. Nick Drydakis, 2013. "The effect of ethnic identity on the employment of immigrants," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 285-308, June.
    4. Mattoo, Aaditya & Neagu, Ileana Cristina & Özden, Çağlar, 2012. "Performance of skilled migrants in the U.S.: A dynamic approach," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 829-843.
    5. Cédric Gorinas, 2014. "Ethnic identity, majority norms, and the native–immigrant employment gap," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(1), pages 225-250, January.
    6. Bedaso, Fenet, 2021. "The Labor Market Integration of Refugees and other Migrants in Germany," GLO Discussion Paper Series 884, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Morgan Raux, 2021. "Cultural differences and immigrants' wages," DEM Discussion Paper Series 21-02, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    8. Raux, Morgan, 2023. "Cultural differences and immigrants’ wages," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    9. Matloob Piracha & Massimiliano Tani & Zhiming Cheng & Ben Zhe Wang, 2023. "Social assimilation and immigrants’ labour market outcomes," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 37-67, January.
    10. Piracha, Matloob & Tani, Massimiliano & Cheng, Zhiming & Wang, Ben Zhe, 2021. "Ethnic Identity and Immigrants' Labour Market Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 14123, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2011. "Migration, Ethnicity and Economic Integration," Chapters, in: Miroslav N. Jovanović (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Integration, Volume III, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Campbell, Stuart & Nuevo-Chiquero, Ana & Popli, Gurleen & Ratcliffe, Anita, 2019. "Parental Ethnic Identity and Child Development," IZA Discussion Papers 12104, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Hannah Zillessen, 2022. "Uncertainty, Citizenship & Migrant Saving Choices," Economics Series Working Papers 1008, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    14. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht, 2011. "Migration and Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 327-439, Elsevier.
    15. Ek, Simon & Hammarstedt, Mats & Skedinger, Per, 2021. "Low-Skilled Jobs, Language Proficiency and Refugee Integration: An Experimental Study," Working Paper Series 1398, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    16. Escamilla-Guerrero, David & Kosack, Edward & Ward, Zachary, 2021. "Life after crossing the border: Assimilation during the first Mexican mass migration," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    17. Maria Rosaria Carillo & Vincenzo Lombardo & Tiziana Venittelli, 2023. "Social identity and labor market outcomes of immigrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 69-113, January.
    18. Bonin, Holger, 2017. "The Potential Economic Benefits of Education of Migrants in the EU," IZA Research Reports 75, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Abdulla, Kanat, 2020. "Human capital accumulation: Evidence from immigrants in low-income countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 951-973.
    20. Christian Dustmann & Yannis Kastis & Ian Preston, 2023. "Inequality and Immigration," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2307, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    downgrading; immigrants; refugees; Germany; labor markets; wages; employment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15426. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.