IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp9057.html

Winners and Losers among Skilled Migrants: The Case of Post-Accession Polish Migrants to the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Kaczmarczyk, Pawel

    (Warsaw University)

  • Tyrowicz, Joanna

    (University of Warsaw)

Abstract

We test if migration leads to increased wages. We take the example of Polish migrants to the United Kingdom and focus on the mobility of well educated Poles. We offer insights into absolute and relative change in wages of the migrants, utilizing the data from the UK and Polish labor force surveys. We find that while overall the returns to migration are low, they are negligible or even insignificant for the highly skilled migrants from Poland to the UK. These results hold for both absolute and relative measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaczmarczyk, Pawel & Tyrowicz, Joanna, 2015. "Winners and Losers among Skilled Migrants: The Case of Post-Accession Polish Migrants to the UK," IZA Discussion Papers 9057, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9057
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp9057.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francisco L. Rivera-Batiz, 2018. "How Do Migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean Fare in the U.S. Labor Market?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Francisco L Rivera-Batiz (ed.), International and Interregional Migration Theory and Evidence, chapter 12, pages 175-215, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Timothy J. Hatton & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2002. "What Fundamentals Drive World Migration?," NBER Working Papers 9159, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. James Ted McDonald & Christopher Worswick, 1998. "The Earnings of Immigrant Men in Canada: Job Tenure, Cohort, and Macroeconomic Conditions," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 51(3), pages 465-482, April.
    4. Ken Clark & Stephen Drinkwater, 2008. "The labour-market performance of recent migrants," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 24(3), pages 496-517, Autumn.
    5. Christian Dustmann & Tommaso Frattini & Caroline Halls, 2010. "Assessing the Fiscal Costs and Benefits of A8 Migration to the UK," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 31(1), pages 1-41, March.
    6. Stark Oded & Wang, 2000. "A Theory of Migration as a Response to Relative Deprivation," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 1(2), pages 131-143, May.
    7. Joseph-Simon Gorlach & Christian Dustmann & Jerome Adda, 2014. "Migrant Wages, Human Capital Accumulation and Return Migration," 2014 Meeting Papers 679, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    8. George J. Borjas, 2021. "The Economic Benefits from Immigration," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 13, pages 411-430, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    9. Paul W. Miller & Barry R. Chiswick, 2002. "Immigrant earnings: Language skills, linguistic concentrations and the business cycle," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(1), pages 31-57.
    10. Czaika, Mathias, 2011. "Internal and international migration as response of double deprivation: some evidence from India," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Berlin 2011 21, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    11. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht & Vogel, Thorsten, 2010. "Employment, wages, and the economic cycle: Differences between immigrants and natives," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 1-17, January.
    12. Carletto, Calogero & Davis, Benjamin & Stampini, Marco & Trento, Stefano & Zezza, Alberto, "undated". "Internal mobility and international migration in Albania," ESA Working Papers 23797, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA).
    13. Larry A. Sjaastad, 1970. "The Costs and Returns of Human Migration," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Harry W. Richardson (ed.), Regional Economics, chapter 9, pages 115-133, Palgrave Macmillan.
    14. Strzelecki, Paweł & Wyszynski, Robert, 2011. "Potential implications of labour market opening in Germany and Austria on emigration from Poland," MPRA Paper 32586, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Stark, Oded, 1984. "Rural-to-Urban Migration in LDCs: A Relative Deprivation Approach," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(3), pages 475-486, April.
    16. Chiswick, Barry R & Miller, Paul W, 1995. "The Endogeneity between Language and Earnings: International Analyses," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(2), pages 246-288, April.
    17. Barrett, Alan & FitzGerald, John & Nolan, Brian, 2002. "Earnings inequality, returns to education and immigration into Ireland," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(5), pages 665-680, November.
    18. 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..
    19. Stark, Oded & Taylor, J Edward, 1991. "Migration Incentives, Migration Types: The Role of Relative Deprivation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(408), pages 1163-1178, September.
    20. Stark, Oded & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1988. "Labour Migration as a Response to Relative Deprivation," MPRA Paper 21670, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. David Card & Christian Dustmann & Ian Preston, 2012. "Immigration, Wages, And Compositional Amenities," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 78-119, February.
    22. Jorgen Hansen & Magnus Lofstrom, 2003. "Immigrant Assimilation and Welfare Participation Do Immigrants Assimilate Into or Out of Welfare?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(1).
    23. Ken Clark & Stephen Drinkwater, 2009. "The Labour Market Impact of Recent Immigration on Ethnic Groups in The UK," Nordic Journal of Political Economy, Nordic Journal of Political Economy, vol. 35, pages 1-4.
    24. Michael Shields & Stephen Wheatley Price, 1998. "The earnings of male immigrants in England: evidence from the quarterly LFS," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(9), pages 1157-1168.
    25. Dustmann, Christian, 2000. "Temporary Migration and Economic Assimilation," IZA Discussion Papers 186, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    26. Chau, Nancy H. & Stark, Oded, 1999. "Human-Capital Formation, Asymmetric Information, and the Dynamics of International Migration," EconStor Open Access Book Chapters, in: The Economics of Globalization: Policy Perspectives from Public Economics, pages 333-370, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    27. Michael A. Quinn, 2006. "Relative Deprivation, Wage Differentials and Mexican Migration," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 135-153, February.
    28. Christian Dustmann & Tommaso Frattini & Ian P. Preston, 2013. "The Effect of Immigration along the Distribution of Wages," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(1), pages 145-173.
    29. Oded Stark & J. Taylor, 1989. "Relative deprivation and international migration oded stark," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 26(1), pages 1-14, February.
    30. Christian Dustmann & Francesca Fabbri, 2003. "Language proficiency and labour market performance of immigrants in the UK," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(489), pages 695-717, July.
    31. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra Todd, 1998. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 65(2), pages 261-294.
    32. Alan Barrett & Yvonne McCarthy, 2007. "Immigrants in a Booming Economy: Analysing Their Earnings and Welfare Dependence," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 21(4‐5), pages 789-808, December.
    33. 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..
    34. Harris, John R & Todaro, Michael P, 1970. "Migration, Unemployment & Development: A Two-Sector Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 126-142, March.
    35. Piore,Michael J., 1980. "Birds of Passage," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521280587, January.
    36. George J. Borjas, 1994. "The Economics of Immigration," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1667-1717, December.
    37. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    38. Michael A. Shields & Stephen Wheatley Price, 2002. "The English language fluency and occupational success of ethnic minority immigrant men living in English metropolitan areas," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(1), pages 137-160.
    39. Lee, Won Fy, 2012. "The Effect of Relative Income in the Dynamics of Migration: Evidence from the VHLSS Panel Data," Master's Theses and Plan B Papers 142096, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    40. Stark, Oded & Fan, C. Simon, 2010. "Migration for degrading work as an escape from humiliation," MPRA Paper 28905, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    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. Joanna Tyrowicz & Tomasz Jeruzalski, 2013. "(In)Efficiency of matching: the case of a post-transition economy," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 255-275, May.
    2. Izabela Grabowska, 2018. "Social Skills, Workplaces and Social Remittances: A Case of Post-Accession Migrants," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 32(5), pages 868-886, October.
    3. Tyrowicz, Joanna, 2009. "When Eastern Labour Markets Enter Western Europe CEECs. Labour Market Institutions upon Euro Zone Accession," MPRA Paper 15045, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Mack, Miriam & Roeder, Sarah & Marchand, Katrin & Siegel, Melissa, 2020. "Intra-EU migration: Shedding light on drivers, corridors and the relative importance of migrant characteristics," MERIT Working Papers 2020-042, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    5. Wadim Strielkowski & Petr Filipec & Miroslav Štefánik & Karolina Kowalska, 2013. "Outward Labour Migration in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia after the EU Enlargement in 2004," Czech Economic Review, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, vol. 7(1), pages 042-054, March.
    6. Paweł Baranowski & Artur Gądek & Damian Stelmasiak & Szymon Wójcik, 2016. "Wyjechać czy zostać? Determinanty zamiarów emigracji zarobkowej z Polski," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 4, pages 69-89.
    7. Karolina Kowalska & Wadim Strielkowski, 2013. "Propensity to Migration in the CEEC: Comparison of Migration Potential in the Czech Republic and Poland," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2013(3), pages 343-357.
    8. Michał Polakowski & Dorota Szelewa, 2016. "Poland in the migration chain: causes and consequences," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 22(2), pages 207-218, May.
    9. Marek Szarucki & Jan Brzozowski & Jelena Stankevičienė, 2016. "Determinants of self-employment among Polish and Romanian immigrants in Germany," Journal of Business Economics and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 598-612, July.
    10. Maruszewski Wojciech & Kaczmarczyk Paweł, 2020. "Economic Integration and Migrant Networks: The Case of Ukrainian Migrants in the Warsaw Agglomeration," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 7(54), pages 258-278, January.
    11. Inese Šūpule, 2020. "Perceived Discrimination of Highly Educated Latvian Women Abroad," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19, December.

    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. 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.
    2. Jens Ruhose, 2015. "Microeconometric Analyses on Economic Consequences of Selective Migration," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 61, July.
    3. Zaiceva, A. & Zimmermann, K.F., 2016. "Migration and the Demographic Shift," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 119-177, Elsevier.
    4. Nikolova, Milena & Graham, Carol, 2015. "In transit: The well-being of migrants from transition and post-transition countries," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 164-186.
    5. Herbst Mikołaj & Kaczmarczyk Paweł & Wójcik Piotr, 2017. "Migration of Graduates Within a Sequential Decision Framework: Evidence from Poland," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 1(48), pages 1-18, November.
    6. Michael Clemens, 2014. "Does Development Reduce Migration? - Working Paper 359," Working Papers 359, Center for Global Development.
    7. Hatton, Timothy J. & Wheatley Price, Stephen, 1998. "Migration, Migrants and Policy in the United Kingdom," CEPR Discussion Papers 1960, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. A. Gentili, 2013. "Migration Costs and Networks: household optimal investment in migration," Working Papers wp867, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    9. Winters, P. & Kafle, K. & Benfica, R., 2018. "IFAD RESEARCH SERIES 21 - Does relative deprivation induce migration? Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," IFAD Research Series 280070, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
    10. Michael A. Clemens, 2014. "Does development reduce migration?," Chapters, in: Robert E.B. Lucas (ed.), International Handbook on Migration and Economic Development, chapter 6, pages 152-185, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Seonho Shin, 2022. "Evaluating the Effect of the Matching Grant Program for Refugees: An Observational Study Using Matching, Weighting, and the Mantel-Haenszel Test," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 103-133, March.
    12. Ken Clark & Joanne Kathryn Lindley, 2005. "Immigrant Labour Market Assimilation and Arrival Effects: Evidence from the Labour Force Survey," Working Papers 2005004, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2005.
    13. Pawel Kaczmarczyk, 2013. "Are immigrants a burden for the state budget? Review paper," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers p0356, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    14. Kaczmarczyk, Pawel, 2015. "Burden or Relief? Fiscal Impacts of Recent Ukrainian Migration to Poland," IZA Discussion Papers 8779, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Ekaterina Sprenger, 2013. "The Determinants of International Migration in the European Union: An Empirical Analysis," Working Papers 325, Leibniz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies).
    16. Elena Vidal-Coso & Pau Miret-Gamundi, 2014. "The labour trajectories of immigrant women in Spain: Are there signs of upward social mobility?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 31(13), pages 337-380.
    17. Peter Huber & Doris Oberdabernig & Jesús Crespo Cuaresma & Anna Raggl, 2015. "Migration in an Ageing Europe: What are the Challenges? WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 79," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 57886, August.
    18. Christian Dustmann & Uta Schoenberg, 2025. "Linking Empirical Evidence to Theory: A Framework for Understanding Immigrations Labor Market Effects," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 2522, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    19. Oded Stark & Walter Hyll, 2011. "On the Economic Architecture of the Workplace: Repercussions of Social Comparisons among Heterogeneous Workers," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(2), pages 349-375.
    20. Alícia Adserà & Mariola Pytliková, 2015. "The Role of Language in Shaping International Migration," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(586), pages 49-81, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • 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:dp9057. 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.