Decomposing Migrant Self-Selection

Education, Occupation, and Unobserved Abilities

Bibliographic Data

ID3481891
AuthorsIlkka Kauppinen (0000-0002-9175-1525), Panu Poutvaara (0000-0003-2070-784X, Ilpo Kauppinen is a Senior Researcher at the Vatt Institute for Economic Research and a Research Network Affiliate at CESifo. Panu Poutvaara is a Professor of Economics at the University of Munich, the Director of the ifo Center for Migration and Development Economics, a Member of Germany’s Expert Council on Integration and Migration, a Research Fellow at CESifo, CReAM, and IZA research networks, and an Affiliated Member at the Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume78
Issue1
Pages86-112
Publication date2025-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIndustrial and Labor Relations Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0019-7939 • E-ISSN: 2162-271X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00197939241300066
OpenAlexW4404718931
LanguageEN
References cited18

The authors analyze self-selection and sorting of emigrants from Finland, using full-population administrative data. Their analysis focuses on employed Finnish citizens aged 25 to 54 years, who had no immigrant background. Findings show that emigrants are more educated, have higher earnings, and are more likely to have worked as managers or professionals when compared to those who did not emigrate (the stayers). These findings hold for short-term and long-term emigrants. Emigrant self-selection in terms of residual earnings is U-shaped, which holds when adding occupational controls, as well as when married and unmarried men and women are studied separately. Results also show strong evidence of sorting: Men who emigrate outside Nordic countries are considerably better educated, have higher earnings, and are more likely to have worked as managers or professionals than men who emigrate to other Nordic countries. Also, language is important: Swedish-speaking Finns are much more likely to emigrate to other Nordic countries than Finnish speakers

Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Migrant workers · Selection (genetic algorithm · Sociology · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Psychology

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