Are There Returns to Migration Experience? An Empirical Analysis using Data on Return Migrants and Non-Migrants in West Africa

Abstract

Does migrants' experience abroad provide an earnings premium for wage earners and/or a productivity advantage for entrepreneurs? In terms of earnings, we find that experience abroad results in a substantial wage premium for migrants returning from an OECD country but not for other return migrants. Past migration in an OECD country also results in a productive advantage for returnees who became entrepreneurs upon returning. However, the low share of return migrants in the population of WAEMU countries suggests that the effectiveness of return migration as a driver of development is only moderate. L'expérience migratoire est-elle valorisable? Une analyse empirique sur données collectées auprès de migrants de retour et de nonmigrants en Afrique de l'Ouest RÉSUMÉ-Les migrants bénéficient-ils d'une prime salariale sur le marché du travail de leur pays d'origine une fois rentrés au pays ? Qu'en est-il pour ceux qui dirigent une entreprise ou sont à leur compte? Les résultats de nos analyses suggèrent que les migrants de retour perçoivent une prime salariale forte lorsqu'ils reviennent d'un pays de l'OCDE. Le même résultat est observé pour ceux ayant le statut d'entrepreneurs. Cependant, étant donnée la faible proportion de migrants de retour dans la population des pays de la région, l'impact de la migration de retour sur le développement ne peut être que modéré. Acknowledgments: The authors thank François Roubaud and the PARSTAT project for making the data available for this work. The authors acknowledge financial support from OECD/DELSA under the Return Migration and Development Programme. They also thank Gilles Spielvogel, Ira Gang, Jacklin Wahba and three anonymous referees for their useful comments on a previous draft. The usual disclaimer applies.

When drains and gains coincide: Migration and international football performance

“…The impact of human capital acquired abroad and brought to sending countries by temporary/return migrants is one of the less well documented areas in this literature. 6 Existing studies usually compare return migrants and non-migrants with respect to their educational attainments or their incomes (Wahba, 2007;De Vreyer et al, 2010;Gibson and McKenzie, 2012). Both of these measures have some caveats.…”

Selection, selection, selection: the impact of return migration

“…Wahba (2007) examines the case of Egypt, based on earlier data (for 1988 and 1998) and finds stronger evidence that overseas employment and temporary migration results in a wage premium upon return; on average, return migrants earn around 38% more than non-migrants. De Vreyer et al (2010) examine labor market outcomes for returnees to seven capital cities in West Africa and find that experience abroad results in a substantial wage premium for migrants returning from an OECD country. A main limitation in the previous studies is in not accounting for the double selection of migration: who migrates and who returns.…”

The productivity of return migrants: the case of China’s “Sea Turtles”

“…Instead of looking at labor market outcomes, the current paper focuses on the productivity differential between return migrants and non-migrants following the lead of Gibson and McKenzie (2012), Zucker and Darby (2007), and Vreyer et al (2010). In addition to http://www.izajom.com/content/2/1/5 being of general interest, the estimation of productivity differential is of special interest in economies like China's where returnees may receive favorable wage treatment or extra rewards that are not associated with their current productivity.…”