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The labor demand effects of refugee immigration: Evidence from a natural experiment

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  • Berbée, Paul
  • Brücker, Herbert
  • Garloff, Alfred
  • Sommerfeld, Katrin
Abstract
We study the labor demand effect of immigration on local labor markets by exploiting the fact that refugees in Germany are banned from working in the first few months after arrival. This natural experiment allows isolating a pure immigration-induced labor demand effect. For empirical identification we rely on the local presence of vacant military bases and on allocation quotas from a dispersal policy. The results are in line with our predictions from a theoretical framework with non-homothetic demand, where an increasing share in the consumption of necessities is associated with rising demand of labor-intensive goods: As the number of recently arrived refugees and thus the demand for locally produced goods increases, local employment increases particularly in non-tradable sectors in the short run. At the same time, unemployment drops while individual wages do not change significantly which can be traced back to widespread labor market rigidities in Germany. The isolation of labor demand effects complements the literature that isolates labor supply shocks from immigration, so as to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how immigration affects labor markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Berbée, Paul & Brücker, Herbert & Garloff, Alfred & Sommerfeld, Katrin, 2022. "The labor demand effects of refugee immigration: Evidence from a natural experiment," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-069, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:22069
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    Cited by:

    1. Lange, Martin & Sommerfeld, Katrin, 2024. "Do refugees impact crime? Causal evidence from large-scale refugee immigration to Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
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    3. Bernd Hayo & Duncan Roth, 2024. "The perceived impact of immigration on native workers' labour market outcomes," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202406, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    4. Hessami, Zohal & Schirner, Sebastian, 2024. "Immigration Shocks and Shifting Social Group Boundaries," IZA Discussion Papers 17343, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor demand; employment; immigration; refugees; natural experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General

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