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Return migrants and the wage premium: does the legal status of migrants matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Nelly Elmallakh

    (World Bank)

  • Jackline Wahba

    (University of Southampton)

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the legal status of overseas migrants on their wages upon return to the home country. Using unique data from Egypt, which allows us to distinguish between return migrants according to whether their international migration was documented or undocumented, we examine the impact of illegal status on wages upon return. Relying on a Conditional Mixed Process model, which takes into account the selection into emigration, into return, and into the legal status of temporary migration, we find that, upon return, undocumented migrants experience a wage penalty compared with documented migrants, as well as relative to non-migrants. Our results are the first to show the impact of undocumented migration on the migrant upon return to the country of origin.

Suggested Citation

  • Nelly Elmallakh & Jackline Wahba, 2022. "Return migrants and the wage premium: does the legal status of migrants matter?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 1631-1685, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:35:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s00148-021-00872-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-021-00872-z
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    Cited by:

    1. Anu Abraham, 2020. "International Migration, Return Migration and Occupational Mobility: Evidence from Kerala, India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(4), pages 1223-1243, December.
    2. Averett, Susan L. & Bansak, Cynthia & Condon, Grace & Dziadula, Eva, 2023. "The Gendered Impact of In-State Tuition Policies on Undocumented Immigrants' College Enrollment, Graduation, and Employment," IZA Discussion Papers 16698, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Krafft Caroline & Assaad Ragui & Rahman Khandker Wahedur, 2021. "Introducing the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey 2018," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-40, January.
    4. Nelly Elmallakh & Jackline Wahba, 2022. "Return migrants and the wage premium: does the legal status of migrants matter?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 1631-1685, October.
    5. Bossavie,Laurent Loic Yves & Görlach,Joseph-Simon & Ozden,Caglar & Wang,He, 2022. "Institutional Voids, Capital Markets and Temporary Migration : Evidence from Bangladesh," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9930, The World Bank.
    6. Gislain Stéphane GANDJON FANKEM & Dieudonné TAKA & Sévérin TAMWO, 2023. "The effects of new skills acquired abroad by return migrants on social relations and quality of life in Cameroon," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 58, pages 21-49.
    7. Bossavie,Laurent Loic Yves & Gorlach,Joseph-Simon & Ozden,Caglar & Wang,He, 2021. "Temporary Migration for Long-term Investment," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9740, The World Bank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Return migration; Undocumented migration; Illegality; Wages; Egypt;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General

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