Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/36066 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 4639
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The paper compares the pattern of wage assimilation of foreigners with both native immigrants and local natives in Italy, a country with large internal and international migration. This comparison, not yet exploited, yields understanding of the role played by language and knowledge of social capital. We use the administrative dataset on dependent employment (WHIP), to estimate a fixed effect model of the weekly wages of males aged 18-45 with controls for selection in return migration and unobserved heterogeneity. The three groups of workers start their careers at the same wage level but, as experience increases, the wage profiles of foreigners and natives, both immigrants and locals, diverge. A positive selection in the returns prevails, so that the foreign workers with lower wages are the most likely to stay in Italy. Also an ethnic skill differential emerges and a negative status dependence for those entering at low wage level.
Subjects: 
Migration
assimilation
wage differential
JEL: 
J31
J61
C23
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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