1887

OECD Regional Development Papers

Papers from the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities of the OECD cover a full range of topics including regional statistics and analysis, urban governance and economics, rural governance and economics, and multi-level governance. Depending on the programme of work, the papers can cover specific topics such as regional innovation and networks, sustainable development, the determinants of regional growth or fiscal consolidation at the subnational level.

English

The impact of migration on regional labour markets in Australia

This paper provides novel evidence on the regional impact of international migration on native employment and wages in Australia, using unique administrative individual-level panel data covering all residents from 2011 to 2018. Employing a differences-in-differences estimation strategy and a well-established shift-share instrumental variable (IV) approach based on census data from 1981, the study addresses potential endogeneity concerns related to migrant settlement patterns. The analysis reveals a positive impact of migration on native employment across all skill levels, ages, and genders, while wages remain unaffected. Examining the drivers of the employment effect shows that the arrival of migrants leads to a substantial increase of newly employed natives in the region and a decrease in the number of previously employed natives, with the former outweighing the latter. Most of the dynamic results from geographic mobility rather than labour market transition.

English

Keywords: regions, Australia, migration, employment, wages
JEL: R23: Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics / Household Analysis / Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics; R10: Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics / General Regional Economics / General; J61: Labor and Demographic Economics / Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers / Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
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