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Train or hire? Labour immigration and firms’ investments in the skilling of workers

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  • Schøne, Pål
  • Strøm, Marte

Abstract

We investigate whether an increase in labour immigration affects firms’ investments in apprentices. We analyse the building and construction (BaC) industry in Norway during a period when labour immigration into this sector increased considerably, with the largest increase coming after the 2004 EU enlargement. We exploit the difference in immigrant inflow across licensed and non-licenced business areas to identify the effect of labour immigration on apprenticeship investments using two empirical approaches: an instrumental variables (IV) framework and a difference-in-differences (DD) framework. We find that the inflow of immigrants reduced firms’ investments in apprentices. The results are robust to several robustness checks.

Suggested Citation

  • Schøne, Pål & Strøm, Marte, 2026. "Train or hire? Labour immigration and firms’ investments in the skilling of workers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:100:y:2026:i:c:s0927537126000291
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2026.102878
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