Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/308303 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17444
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
While Western countries worry about labor shortages, their institutional barriers to skill transferability prevent immigrants from fully utilizing foreign qualifications. Combining administrative and survey data in a difference-in-differences design, we show that a German reform, which lifted these barriers for non-EU immigrants, led to a 15 percent increase in the share of immigrants with a recognized foreign qualification. Consequently, non-EU immigrants' employment and wages in licensed occupations (e.g., doctors) increased respectively by 18.6 and 4 percent, narrowing the gaps with EU immigrants. Despite the inflow of non-EU immigrants in these occupations, we find no evidence of crowding out or downward wage pressure for natives.
Subjects: 
skill transferability
occupational recognition
immigrant integration
JEL: 
J24
J31
J62
F22
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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