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Title: Venezuelan exodus: the effect of mass migration on labor market outcomes
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2019
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Abstract: Unexpected and massive immigration flows are the subject of public debate in many countries that host forcibly displaced migrants. Policymakers worry about the effects that free entry has on local labor markets. In addition, forced displacement adds a moral dimension to the agenda when making economic and social policy decisions. In August 2015, the Venezuelan government decided unilaterally to close the border. In mid-2016 and as a consequence of national and international pressure , the border reopened. This decision along with the political instability in Venezuela caused an unprecedented increase in migration to Colombia and other countries in Latin America. Using a difference-indifferences approach, I exploit the massive immigration flow of Venezuelans to Colombia in recent years and the timing of the events to evaluate its effects on wages and employment. I use two measures of immigration flows: first, the number of registered immigrants; and second, the Internet search intensity of keywords that only Venezuelans would Google. Graph-ical analysis of both measures as well as anecdotal evidence suggests that Internet search is better than migrant counts at identifying where most of the immigrant communities are located. Concerning the effects on labor markets, I find negligible reductions in wages in the informal sector. Among the less educated, there is also a small reduction in wages in the formal sector. Employment regressions suggest mild reductions on employment in the formal sector mostly explained by a transition of Colombians from the formal to the informal sector. All in all, if a Colombian worker earns 10 dollars per hour, the reduction in her salary would be of 2-7 cents of a dollar. According to these calculations, my results suggest a loss of well-being close to zero for Colombians.
Url: http://www.ridge.uy/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Julieth_Santamaria___LACEA_labor.pdf
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Authors: Santamaria, Julieth
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Data Collections: IPUMS International
Topics: Migration and Immigration
Countries: Venezuela