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Do High-Income or Low-Income Immigrants Leave Faster?

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  • Bijwaard, Govert

    (NIDI - Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute)

  • Wahba, Jackline

    (University of Southampton)

Abstract

We estimate the impact of the income earned in the host country on return migration of labor migrants from developing countries. We use a three-state correlated competing risks model to account for the strong dependence of labor market status and the income earned. Our analysis is based on administrative panel data of recent labor immigrants from developing countries to the Netherlands. The empirical results show that intensities of return migration are U-shaped with respect to migrants' income, implying a higher intensity in low- and high- income groups. Indeed, the lowest-income group has the highest probability of return. We also find that ignoring the interdependence of labor market status and the income earned leads to an overestimating the income effect on departure.

Suggested Citation

  • Bijwaard, Govert & Wahba, Jackline, 2013. "Do High-Income or Low-Income Immigrants Leave Faster?," IZA Discussion Papers 7732, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7732
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    immigrant assimilation; labour market transitions; migration dynamics; competing risks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • C41 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Duration Analysis; Optimal Timing Strategies

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