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Emigration and Wages: The EU Enlargement Experiment

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  • Elsner, Benjamin

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of a large emigration wave on real wages in the source country. Following EU enlargement in 2004, a large share of the workforce of the Central and Eastern Europe emigrated to Western Europe. Using data from Lithuania for the calibration of a factor demand model I show that emigration had a significant short-run impact on real wages in the source country. In particular, emigration led to a change in the wage distribution between young and old workers. The wages of young workers increased by 6%, whereas the wages of old workers decreased by around 1%. On the contrary, I find no effect on the wage distribution between workers of different education levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Elsner, Benjamin, 2011. "Emigration and Wages: The EU Enlargement Experiment," Economy and Society 119098, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:feemso:119098
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.119098
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor and Human Capital;

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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