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Bhandari, Jagdeep S. --- "Migration and Labor Markets: A Brief Survey" [2009] ELECD 422; in Dau-Schmidt, G. Kenneth; Harris, D. Seth; Lobel, Orly (eds), "Labor and Employment Law and Economics" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)

Book Title: Labor and Employment Law and Economics

Editor(s): Dau-Schmidt, G. Kenneth; Harris, D. Seth; Lobel, Orly

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847207296

Section: Chapter 20

Section Title: Migration and Labor Markets: A Brief Survey

Author(s): Bhandari, Jagdeep S.

Number of pages: 21

Extract:

20 Migration and labor markets: a brief
survey
Jagdeep S. Bhandari


1 Introduction
Large-scale international migration, whether temporary or permanent,
is not a new phenomenon.1 In fact, in the US, the belle époque of immi-
gration is generally agreed to be the period ending with the commence-
ment of World War I in 1914 (Hatton and Williamson 2006). Not only
was the number of immigrants arriving annually in the US probably the
largest in the twentieth century, but in relative terms, because of the much
lower population in the US than currently, the rate of immigration was
at an unsurpassed high point. Correlatively, emigration rates from the
source countries (mostly the United Kingdom, Germany and to some
extent Northern Europe) were also at unprecedented levels (Hatton and
Williamson 2006). Thereafter, mass migrations ­ some involuntary ­ con-
tinued to occur in the 1930s and 1940s, before and during World War II
(Hatton and Williamson 1998).
In more recent times, US immigration levels have risen sharply follow-
ing decades of moderate inbound immigration.2 In turn, the rapid and
growing influx of immigrants has sparked a large literature on the labor
market impact of immigration for the host country, and to a much smaller
extent, the impact of emigration upon the source country.3 The impact of
immigration is by no means limited to its labor market effects or even to
general economic effects (such as those on fiscal burdens, inflation, credit
markets on the informal sector or `shadow economy' etc.). ...