Cross-occupational Effects of Immigration on Native Wages in the UK

Marco Alfano; Ross Mckenzie; Graeme Roy

Cross-occupational Effects of Immigration on Native Wages in the UK

Marco Alfano
, Ross Mckenzie
, Graeme Roy

Research output: Working paper/Preprint › Working paper

Abstract

This paper estimates the effect of immigration into an occupation on the wages of natives working in other, better paid occupations. Using Annual Population Survey data from the UK we rank occupations by real hourly wage and find that increases in the migrant/native ratio raise average wages of natives working in the next higher paid occupation by around 0.13 percent. We find that these effects operate through migrants' higher educational attainments raising workplace productivity more broadly and supporting specialization in tasks. Our findings have important implications for policy and public discourse. They suggest that debates over the economic impacts of migration often ignore the potential spill-over benefits that a migrant can bring to the outcomes for native workers elsewhere in the wage distribution, particularly in lower wage occupations.

Original language	English
Place of Publication	Glasgow
Publisher	University of Strathclyde
Number of pages	34
Publication status	Published - 14 Aug 2020

Publication series

Name	Strathclyde Discussion Papers in Economics
Publisher	University of Strathclyde
No.	11
Volume	20

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

Keywords

immigration
impact
wage distribution

Access to Document

https://www.strath.ac.uk/business/economics/research/discussionpapers/

Cite this

@techreport{2cd791693dc442a69724879ad45ae2be,

title = "Cross-occupational Effects of Immigration on Native Wages in the UK",

abstract = "This paper estimates the effect of immigration into an occupation on the wages of natives working in other, better paid occupations. Using Annual Population Survey data from the UK we rank occupations by real hourly wage and find that increases in the migrant/native ratio raise average wages of natives working in the next higher paid occupation by around 0.13 percent. We find that these effects operate through migrants' higher educational attainments raising workplace productivity more broadly and supporting specialization in tasks. Our findings have important implications for policy and public discourse. They suggest that debates over the economic impacts of migration often ignore the potential spill-over benefits that a migrant can bring to the outcomes for native workers elsewhere in the wage distribution, particularly in lower wage occupations.",

keywords = "immigration, impact, wage distribution",

author = "Marco Alfano and Ross Mckenzie and Graeme Roy",

note = "Strathclyde Discussion Papers in Economics No. 20-11.",

year = "2020",

month = aug,

day = "14",

language = "English",

series = "Strathclyde Discussion Papers in Economics",

publisher = "University of Strathclyde",

number = "11",

type = "WorkingPaper",

institution = "University of Strathclyde",

}

TY - UNPB

T1 - Cross-occupational Effects of Immigration on Native Wages in the UK

AU - Alfano, Marco

AU - Mckenzie, Ross

AU - Roy, Graeme

N1 - Strathclyde Discussion Papers in Economics No. 20-11.

PY - 2020/8/14

Y1 - 2020/8/14

N2 - This paper estimates the effect of immigration into an occupation on the wages of natives working in other, better paid occupations. Using Annual Population Survey data from the UK we rank occupations by real hourly wage and find that increases in the migrant/native ratio raise average wages of natives working in the next higher paid occupation by around 0.13 percent. We find that these effects operate through migrants' higher educational attainments raising workplace productivity more broadly and supporting specialization in tasks. Our findings have important implications for policy and public discourse. They suggest that debates over the economic impacts of migration often ignore the potential spill-over benefits that a migrant can bring to the outcomes for native workers elsewhere in the wage distribution, particularly in lower wage occupations.

AB - This paper estimates the effect of immigration into an occupation on the wages of natives working in other, better paid occupations. Using Annual Population Survey data from the UK we rank occupations by real hourly wage and find that increases in the migrant/native ratio raise average wages of natives working in the next higher paid occupation by around 0.13 percent. We find that these effects operate through migrants' higher educational attainments raising workplace productivity more broadly and supporting specialization in tasks. Our findings have important implications for policy and public discourse. They suggest that debates over the economic impacts of migration often ignore the potential spill-over benefits that a migrant can bring to the outcomes for native workers elsewhere in the wage distribution, particularly in lower wage occupations.

KW - immigration

KW - impact

KW - wage distribution

M3 - Working paper

T3 - Strathclyde Discussion Papers in Economics

BT - Cross-occupational Effects of Immigration on Native Wages in the UK

PB - University of Strathclyde

CY - Glasgow

ER -

Cross-occupational Effects of Immigration on Native Wages in the UK

Abstract

Publication series

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this