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Occupational Recognition and Immigrant Labor Market Outcomes

Herbert Brücker1; Albrecht Glitz2,3,4; Adrian Lerche1,5; Agnese Romiti6

1 Institut für Arbeitsmarkt und Berufsforschung · 2 Universitat Pompeu Fabra · 3 Barcelona School of Economics · 4 Institut de Política Econòmica i Governança · 5 Employment Agency · 6 University of Strathclyde

Journal of Labor Economics 2021

We analyze how the formal recognition of foreign qualifications affects immigrants’ labor market outcomes. The empirical analysis is based on a novel German data set that links respondents’ survey information to their administrative records, allowing us to observe immigrants at monthly intervals before, during, and after their application for occupational recognition. We find that 3 years after obtaining recognition, immigrants earn 19.8% higher wages and are 24.5 percentage points more likely to be employed than immigrants in the control group. We further document that occupational recognition leads to full convergence of immigrants’ earnings to those of their native counterparts.

DOI
10.1086/710702
Volume
39 (2)
Pages
497-525
Language
en
Export
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