Social Assimilation and Labor Market Outcomes of Migrants in China

Abstract

The CENTER FOR DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH (ZEF) was established in 1995 as an international, interdisciplinary research institute at the University of Bonn. Research and teaching at ZEF address political, economic and ecological development problems. ZEF closely cooperates with national and international partners in research and development organizations. For information, see: www.zef.de. ZEF Discussion Papers on Development Policy are intended to stimulate discussion among researchers, practitioners and policy makers on current and emerging development issues. Each paper has been exposed to an internal discussion within the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and an external review. The papers mostly reflect work in progress. The Editorial Committee of the ZEF DISCUSSION PAPERS ON DEVELOPMENT POLICY includes Joachim von Braun (Chair), Christian Borgemeister, and Eva Youkhana. Alisher Mirzabaev is the Managing Editor of the series.

Ethnic Identity and Immigrants' Labour Market Outcomes

“…These results suggest that the level of assimilation plays an important role not only in obtaining employment but on the characteristics of the job as well, especially in terms of the reduction in the incidence of overeducation. Our results are in line with those in Constant and Zimmermann (2008) and Cai and Zimmermann (2020) though they are contrary to those found by Gorinas (2014), Casey and Dustmann (2010) and Nekby and Rodin (2010).…”

“…For instance, Carillo et al (2021) use Italian data and show that ethnic identity has a significant positive affect on the probability of finding employment. Similarly, using Chinese internal migration data, Cai and Zimmermann (2020) find a positive and significant impact of assimilation on hourly wages, and assimilation also reduces the number of hours worked. However, Islam and Raschky (2015), using Canadian data, find a negligible effect of assimilation on immigrants' labour market outcomes.…”

“…Recent literature has shown that ethnic identity plays an important role in the economic outcomes of immigrants (Constant and Zimmermann, 2008;Battu et al, 2010;Bisin et al, 2011;Cai and Zimmermann, 2020;Carillo et al, 2021). However, there is no consensus in the results obtained as these are highly dependent on the type of country under study and the type of data available to determine immigrant's ethnic identity.…”

Social assimilation and immigrants’ labour market outcomes

“…For instance, Carillo et al (2021) use Italian data and show that ethnic identity has a significant positive effect on the probability of finding employment. Similarly, using Chinese internal migration data, Cai and Zimmermann (2020) find a positive and significant impact of assimilation on hourly wages, and assimilation also reduces the number of hours worked. However, Islam and Raschky (2015), using Canadian data, find a negligible effect of assimilation on immigrants' labour market outcomes.…”

“…Recent literature has shown that ethnic identity/social assimilation plays an important role in the economic outcomes of immigrants (Constant and Zimmermann, 2008;Battu and Zenou, 2010;Bisin et al, 2011;Cai and Zimmermann, 2020;Carillo et al, 2021). However, there is no consensus in the studies as the results are highly dependent on the type of country under study and the type of data available to determine an immigrant's ethnic identity.…”