On the relative gains to immigration: a comparison of the labour market position of Indians in the USA, the UK and India

De Coulon, Augustin and Wadsworth, Jonathan (2008) On the relative gains to immigration: a comparison of the labour market position of Indians in the USA, the UK and India. CEPDP (851). London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK. ISBN 9780853282457

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Abstract

While most studies of the decision to immigrate focus on the absolute income differences between countries, we argue that relative change in purchasing power or status, as captured by an individual’s ranking in the wage distribution, may also be important. This will in turn be influenced by differential levels of supply, demand and migration costs across the skill distribution and across countries. Using data on Indian immigrants in the United States and the UK matched to comparable data on individuals who remained in India, we show that the average Indian immigrant will experience a fall in their relative ranking in the wage distribution compared to the position they would have achieved had they remained in the origin country. The fall in relative rankings is larger for immigrants to the UK than to the US, and largest of all for those with intermediate skills.

Item Type:	Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL:	http://cep.lse.ac.uk
Additional Information:	© 2008 the authors
Divisions:	Centre for Economic Performance
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
JEL classification:	J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J31 - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials by Skill, Training, Occupation, etc. J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies > J61 - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies > J68 - Public Policy
Date Deposited:	18 Jul 2008 10:40
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 23:11
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/19634

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