Abstract
The impact of foreign-born workers on labor market outcomes of natives is central to any discussion of immigration policy. Economists use several theoretical models to predict how immigration affects native-born workers and test those predictions using data in a wide variety of settings. This chapter provides an overview of economic research on the effect of immigration on natives in the labor market. It explains the main theoretical and empirical models used to examine this topic and highlights key findings in the literature and the assumptions that underlie the models. Although studies reach differing conclusions, empirical research typically finds that immigration has a relatively small effect on most natives’ earnings and employment in medium- and high-income countries. The chapter discusses several potential reasons why studies often find that immigration has not had a larger impact on natives and concludes with areas for future research.
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Acknowledgments
The responsible section editor for this chapter is Klaus F. Zimmermann. The article has benefitted from helpful comments from the editors. The chapter was presented at the GLO Handbook Workshop Migration during the 2021 EBES 37 conference. There is no conflict of interest. Any remaining errors are our own.
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Bansak, C., Simpson, N.B., Zavodny, M. (2022). Immigrants and Their Effects on Labor Market Outcomes of Natives. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (eds) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_110-1
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