Events at CERGE-EI

Dr. Steffen Reinhold

MEA (Mannheim Research Institute of the Economics of Aging), University of Mannheim, Germany

Authors: Steffen Reinhold and Kevin Thom

Abstract: We present an empirical analysis of the relationship between U.S. migration experience and labor market earnings in Mexico. Using Mexican Migrant Project (MMP) data, we find a return to migration experience of about 2.7% per year. Our estimates are robust to the inclusion of controls for unobserved skill, and we thus believe that our estimates are not greatly influenced by standard forms of self-selection bias or the endogeneity of migration experience. A comparison with patterns in the Mexican Census suggests that our results are robust across data sets and are driven by a relationship between migration experience and wages, not hours worked. We also explore the plausibility of multiple mechanisms that might given rise to a return to migration experience. We find the most evidence for the theory that individuals are acquiring occupation-specific work experience in the United States. The return to a year of occupation-specific migration experience is estimated to be as high as 9.3% for some occupations.

Full Text: “Migration Experience and Earnings in the Mexican Labor Market”