Arbeitspapier

Transferability of human capital and immigrant assimilation: An analysis for Germany

This paper investigates the transferability of human capital across countries and the contribution of imperfect human capital portability to the explanation of the immigrant-native wage gap. Using data for West Germany, our results reveal that, overall, education and in particular labor market experience accumulated in the home countries of the immigrants receive signifiantly lower returns than human capital obtained in Germany. We further find evidence for heterogeneity in the returns to human capital of immigrants across countries. Finally, imperfect human capital transferability appears to be a major factor in explaining the wage differential between natives and immigrants.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research ; No. 671

Classification
Wirtschaft
Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
Subject
Human Capital
Rate of Return
Immigration
Assimilation

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Basilio, Leilanie
Bauer, Thomas K.
Kramer, Anica
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)
(where)
Berlin
(when)
2014

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Basilio, Leilanie
  • Bauer, Thomas K.
  • Kramer, Anica
  • Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)

Time of origin

  • 2014

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