IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mlt/ppaper/0119.html

The length of stay of foreign workers in Malta

Author

Listed:
  • Ian Borg

Abstract

The length of stay of foreign workers in the Maltese labour market is short. Indeed, using longitudinal administrative data we find that around a quarter of foreigners engaged in the Maltese labour market exit within the first year of engagement, and around half exit between one and two years later. In general, we find that EU nationals, younger individuals, and lower-skilled foreign workers exhibit a relatively shorter length of stay. Moreover, we find significant sectoral heterogeneity. In particular, smaller firms and the public administration, health, and education sector, exhibit better retention rates. The increasing reliance on a transient labour force poses a number of economic challenges. The short length of stay may limit economic assimilation and labour productivity growth. In addition, low retention rates generate additional strain on training and hiring costs. There are also important implications on the demand for public transport, private education and the rental market.

Suggested Citation

  • Ian Borg, "undated". "The length of stay of foreign workers in Malta," CBM Policy Papers PP/01/2019, Central Bank of Malta.
    • Handle: RePEc:mlt:ppaper:0119
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.centralbankmalta.org/file.aspx?f=72312
    File Function: First version, 2019
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Isilda Mara & Michael Landesmann, 2013. "The steadiness of migration plans and expected length of stay: based on a recent survey of Romanian migrants in Italy," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2013007, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    2. Pilar Cuadrado & Enrique Moral-Benito, 2016. "Potential growth of the spanish economy," Occasional Papers 1603, Banco de España.
    3. Chiswick, Barry R, 1978. "The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 897-921, October.
    4. Brian Micallef, 2016. "A Multivariate Filter to Estimate Potential Output and NAIRU for the Maltese Economy," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(5), pages 13-22, May.
    5. Ernst P. Goss & Chris Paul, 1986. "Age and Work Experience in the Decision to Migrate," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 21(3), pages 397-405.
    6. Clemens Knoppe, 2018. "Wage Income Distribution and Mobility in Malta," CBM Working Papers WP/06/2018, Central Bank of Malta.
    7. Dustmann, Christian, 2003. "Return migration, wage differentials, and the optimal migration duration," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 353-369, April.
    8. Sebastian Gundel & Heiko Peters, 2008. "What Determines the Duration of Stay of Immigrants in Germany?: Evidence from a Longitudinal Duration Analysis," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 79, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    9. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Christian Dustmann, 2014. "Selective Outmigration and the Estimation of Immigrants Earnings Profiles," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 1402, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    2. Alessandra Venturini, 2012. "Methodological Aspects of Research on Flows Human Capital Flows: A survey," RSCAS Working Papers carim2012/01, European University Institute.
    3. Eric Schuss, 2016. "Between Life Cycle Model, Labor Market Integration and Discrimination: An Econometric Analysis of the Determinants of Return Migration," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 881, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    4. Smolny, Werner & Rieber, Alexander, 2016. "Labour market integration of immigrants - Evidence for the German guest workers," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145629, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Michael Fertig & Stefanie Schurer, 2007. "Earnings Assimilation of Immigrants in Germany: The Importance of Heterogeneity and Attrition Bias," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 30, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    6. Isilda Mara & Michael Landesmann, 2013. "Do I stay because I am happy or am I happy because I stay? Life satisfaction in migration, and the decision to stay permanently, return and out-migrate," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2013008, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    7. Brenner, Jan, 2010. "Life-cycle variations in the association between current and lifetime earnings: Evidence for German natives and guest workers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 392-406, April.
    8. Dequiedt, Vianney & Zenou, Yves, 2013. "International migration, imperfect information, and brain drain," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 62-78.
    9. Cornelia Lawson & Aldo Geuna & Rodrigo Kataishi & Manuel Toselli & Ana Fernández-Zubieta, 2015. "International Careers of Researchers in Biomedical Sciences: A Comparison of the US and the UK," SPRU Working Paper Series 2015-09, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    10. Kai Ingwersen & Stephan L. Thomsen, 2021. "The immigrant-native wage gap in Germany revisited," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(4), pages 825-854, December.
    11. Biavaschi, Costanza, 2016. "Recovering the counterfactual wage distribution with selective return migration," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 59-80.
    12. Bijwaard, Govert E. & Wahba, Jackline, 2014. "Do high-income or low-income immigrants leave faster?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 54-68.
    13. Rosa Weber, 2015. "Does intermarriage change migrants’ preferences for the home country?," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-21, December.
    14. Julian Giovanni & Andrei A. Levchenko & Francesc Ortega, 2015. "A Global View Of Cross-Border Migration," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 168-202, February.
    15. Alvaro Morcillo & Rashmi Bhat, 2013. "Return migration to South Africa: reasons and socioeconomic profile," NCID Working Papers 03/2013, Navarra Center for International Development, University of Navarra.
    16. Michael S. Rendall & Flavia Tsang & Jennifer K. Rubin & Lila Rabinovich & Barbara Janta, 2010. "Contrasting Trajectories of Labor-Market Integration Between Migrant Women in Western and Southern Europe [Trajectoires d’intégration des immigrées sur le marché du travail: une comparaison entre l," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 26(4), pages 383-410, November.
    17. Shan Li, 2016. "The determinants of Mexican migrants’ duration in the United States: family composition, psychic costs, and human capital," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-28, December.
    18. Daniela Federici & Marilena Giannetti, 2010. "Temporary Migration and Foreign Direct Investment," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 293-308, April.
    19. Catia Batista, 2008. "Why Doesn't Labor Flow from Poor to Rich Countries? Micro Evidence from the European Integration Experience," Economics Series Working Papers 402, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    20. Peter Huber & Martin Spielauer, 2020. "Return and Onward Migration and Labour Market Entry. Empirical Analysis and Microsimulation Projection for Austria," WIFO Working Papers 616, WIFO.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity

    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:mlt:ppaper:0119. 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: Emmanuel Cachia The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Emmanuel Cachia to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.centralbankmalta.org/ .

    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.