IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/102720.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Trainspotting: 'Good jobs', training and skilled immigration

Author

Listed:
  • Mountford, Andrew
  • Wadsworth, Jonathan

Abstract

While skilled immigration ceteris paribus provides an immediate boost to GDP per capita by adding to the human capital stock of the receiving economy, might it also reduce the number of ’good jobs’, i.e. those with training, available to indigenous workers? This paper analyzes this issue theoretically and empirically. The theoretical model shows how skilled immigration may affect the sectoral allocation of labor and how it may have a positive or negative effect on the training and social mobility of native born workers. The empirical analysis uses UK data from 2001 to 2018 to show that training rates of UK born workers have declined in a period where immigration has been rising strongly, and have declined significantly more in high wage nontraded sectors. At the sectoral level however this link is much less strong but there is evidence of different effects of skilled immigration across traded and non-traded sectors and evidence that the hiring of UK born workers in high wage non-traded sectors has been negatively affected by skilled immigration, although this effect is not large. Taken together the theoretical and empirical analyses suggest that skilled immigration may have some role in allocating native born workers away from ’good jobs’ sectors but it is unlikely to be a major driver of social mobility.

Suggested Citation

  • Mountford, Andrew & Wadsworth, Jonathan, 2019. "Trainspotting: 'Good jobs', training and skilled immigration," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102720, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:102720
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/102720/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daron Acemoglu & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 1998. "Why Do Firms Train? Theory and Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(1), pages 79-119.
    2. Mountford, Andrew & Rapoport, Hillel, 2011. "The brain drain and the world distribution of income," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 4-17, May.
    3. Acemoglu, Daron & Pischke, Jorn-Steffen, 1999. "Beyond Becker: Training in Imperfect Labour Markets," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(453), pages 112-142, February.
    4. Lorraine Dearden & Howard Reed & John Van Reenen, 2006. "The Impact of Training on Productivity and Wages: Evidence from British Panel Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 68(4), pages 397-421, August.
    5. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2012. "The Empirics of Firm Heterogeneity and International Trade," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 283-313, July.
    6. Mountford, Andrew, 1997. "Can a brain drain be good for growth in the source economy?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 287-303, August.
    7. Marco Manacorda & Alan Manning & Jonathan Wadsworth, 2012. "The Impact Of Immigration On The Structure Of Wages: Theory And Evidence From Britain," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 120-151, February.
    8. Christian Dustmann & Uta Schönberg, 2012. "What Makes Firm-Based Vocational Training Schemes Successful? The Role of Commitment," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 36-61, April.
    9. 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.
    10. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2006. "The Evolution of Top Incomes: A Historical and International Perspective," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 200-205, May.
    11. Oded Galor & Joseph Zeira, 1993. "Income Distribution and Macroeconomics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(1), pages 35-52.
    12. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    13. Christian Dustmann & Uta Schönberg, 2009. "Training and Union Wages," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(2), pages 363-376, May.
    14. A. Colin Cameron & Douglas L. Miller, 2015. "A Practitioner’s Guide to Cluster-Robust Inference," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(2), pages 317-372.
    15. Jonathan Wadsworth, 2018. "Off EU Go? Brexit, the UK Labour Market and Immigration," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(4), pages 625-649, December.
    16. Diamond, Douglas W, 1991. "Monitoring and Reputation: The Choice between Bank Loans and Directly Placed Debt," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(4), pages 689-721, August.
    17. Moav, Omer, 2002. "Income distribution and macroeconomics: the persistence of inequality in a convex technology framework," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 187-192, April.
    18. Kiguchi, Takehiro & Mountford, Andrew, 2013. "The macroeconomics of immigration," MPRA Paper 45517, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Maoz, Yishay D. & Moav, Omer, 2004. "Social Stratification, Capital–Skill Complementarity, And The Nonmonotonic Evolution Of The Education Premium," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 295-309, June.
    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. Jiaqi Li & Anna Valero & Guglielmo Ventura, 2020. "Trends in job-related training and policies for building future skills into the recovery," CVER Research Papers 033, Centre for Vocational Education Research.
    2. Oswald-Egg, Maria Esther & Siegenthaler, Michael, 2023. "Train Drain? Access to Foreign Workers and Firms' Provision of Training," IZA Discussion Papers 15902, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Maria Esther Oswald-Egg & Michael Siegenthaler, 2021. "Train drain? Access to skilled foreign workers and firms' provision of training," KOF Working papers 21-495, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    4. Maria Esther Oswald-Egg & Michael Siegenthaler, 2021. "Train drain? Access to skilled foreign workers and firms' provision of training," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0186, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).

    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. Andrew Mountford & Jonathan Wadsworth, 2023. "‘Good jobs’, training and skilled immigration," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(359), pages 851-881, July.
    2. Santiago Caicedo & Miguel Espinosa & Arthur Seibold, 2022. "Unwilling to Train?—Firm Responses to the Colombian Apprenticeship Regulation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(2), pages 507-550, March.
    3. Mohrenweiser, Jens & Zwick, Thomas, 2009. "Why do firms train apprentices? The net cost puzzle reconsidered," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 631-637, December.
    4. D. Sonedda, 2019. "Regional disparities in the functioning of the labour markets," Working Paper CRENoS 201915, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    5. Jens Mohrenweiser & Thomas Zwick & Uschi Backes‐Gellner, 2019. "Poaching and Firm‐Sponsored Training," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(1), pages 143-181, March.
    6. Daniela Sonedda, 2020. "Same rules but different outcomes: regional disparities in permanent employment rates of a nation-wide reform of vocational apprenticeships," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 37(2), pages 583-620, July.
    7. Sonedda, Daniela, 2018. "Human capital investment and job creation: the role of the education and production systems," MPRA Paper 91902, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Tito Boeri & Jan van Ours, 2013. "The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets: Second Edition," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10142.
    9. Moretti, Luca & Mayerl, Martin & Mühlemann, Samuel & Schlögl, Peter & Wolter, Stefan C., 2017. "So Similar and Yet So Different: A Comparative Analysis of a Firm's Cost and Benefits of Apprenticeship Training in Austria and Switzerland," IZA Discussion Papers 11081, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Pardesi, Mantej, 2024. "Productivity convergence and firm’s training strategy," ROA Research Memorandum 003, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    11. Andreas Georgiadis & Christos N. Pitelis, 2016. "The Impact of Employees' and Managers' Training on the Performance of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Experiment in the UK Service Sector," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(2), pages 409-421, June.
    12. Popov, Alexander, 2014. "Credit constraints and investment in human capital: Training evidence from transition economies," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 76-100.
    13. Edo, Anthony & Rapoport, Hillel, 2019. "Minimum wages and the labor market effects of immigration," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    14. George J. Borjas, 2021. "The Wage Impact Of The Marielitos: A Reappraisal," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 12, pages 375-408, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    15. Heinz Hollenstein & Tobias Stucki, 2012. "The 'New Firm Paradigm' and the Provision of Training: The Impact of ICT, Workplace Organization and Human Capital," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 148(IV), pages 557-595, December.
    16. Dietz, Daniel & Zwick, Thomas, 2016. "The retention effect of training: Portability, visibility, and credibility," ZEW Discussion Papers 16-011, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    17. Jozef Konings & Stijn Vanormelingen, 2015. "The Impact of Training on Productivity and Wages: Firm-Level Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(2), pages 485-497, May.
    18. Ryan, Paul & Wagner, Karin & Teuber, Silvia & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2011. "Financial aspects of apprenticeship training in Germany, Great Britain an Switzerland / Finanzielle Aspekte der betrieblichen Ausbildung in Deutschland, Großbritannien und der Schweiz," Arbeitspapiere 241, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.
    19. Alessandro Giovannini & Maurizio Iacopetta & Raoul Minetti, 2013. "Financial Markets, Banks, and Growth : Disentangling the links," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(5), pages 105-147.
    20. Jan Hogrefe & Jens Wrona, 2015. "Trade, tasks and training: The effect of offshoring on individual skill upgrading," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(4), pages 1537-1560, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    immigration; training; income distribution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General

    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:ehl:lserod:102720. 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: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.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.