Immigration Article of the Day: The Economic Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market of Host Countries – Meta-Analytic Evidence

“The Economic Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market of Host Countries – Meta-Analytic Evidence” Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper No. 11-103/3 SIMONETTA LONGHI, University of Essex – Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Tinbergen Institute. PETER NIJKAMP, VU University of Amsterdam – Department of Spatial Economics, Tinbergen Institute – Tinbergen Institute Amsterdam (TIA). JACQUES POOT, University of Waikato – National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

ABSTRACT: The number of immigrants across the world has doubled since 1980. The estimates of the impact of immigration on wages and employment in host countries are quantitatively small but vary widely. We use meta-regression analysis to show how the estimates vary with definitions of the labor market, the extent of substitutability of foreign and native workers, and controls for endogeneity of immigrant settlement. On average, the impact on employment of the native born is smaller than on wages, and impacts are generally smaller in the U.S. than in other countries studied to date. From the policy perspective, attention must now focus on distributional and long-run productivity effects.

KJ