Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/52038 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5396
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper analyzes the reservation wages of first and second generation migrants. Based on recently collected and rich survey data of a representative inflow sample into unemployment in Germany, we empirically test the hypothesis that reservation wages increase from first to second generation migrants. Two extensions of the basic job search model, namely an unknown wage offer distribution and different reference standards, provide theoretical justifications for this conjecture. In both extensions, changing frames of reference are identified as a channel through which the phenomenon of increasing reservation wages may arise. In as far as language skills or self-evaluated returns to characteristics reflect a person's frames of reference, we find empirical support for this mechanism to be present.
Subjects: 
migration
ethnic identity
ethnosizer
Germany
unemployment
job search
reservation wages
JEL: 
F22
J15
J61
J64
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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