Permanent Residency and Refugee Immigrant Skill Investment

Arbeitspapier

We analyze an immigration reform in Denmark that tightened refugee immigrants' eligibility criteria for permanent residency to incentivize their labor market attachment and acquisition of local language skills. Contrary to what the reform intended, the overall employment of those affected decreased while their average language proficiency remained largely unchanged. This was caused by a disincentive effect, where individuals with low prereform labor market performance reduced their labor supply. Our findings suggest that stricter permanent residency rules, rather than incentivizing refugees' skill investment, may decrease the efforts of those who believe they cannot meet the new requirements.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CReAM Discussion Paper Series ; No. 14/23

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Time Allocation and Labor Supply ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
• Subject: immigrant assimilation ; refugee integration ; labor supply ; language proficiency ; human capital

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Arendt, Jacob ; Dustmann, Christian ; Ku, Hyejin
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Centre for Research & Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London
• (where): London
• (when): 2023

Further information

• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET