Tobias Müller

Labor Market Effects and the Political Economy of “New” Migration to Switzerland

Basic economic theory predicts that immigration puts pressure on the wages of native workers. Yet, many empirical studies do not find such effects. We study two mechanisms that can explain this puzzle, namely the reallocation of natives’ labor supply and the market share reallocation of firms. Despite the small effect of immigration on the labor market, the political resistance to immigration is currently on the rise. We explore how exposure to immigrants affects individual attitudes towards immigration and whether these attitudes persist over time.

Project Fact Sheet (PDF)
Main Results (PDF)

Messages for Decision-Makers

The immigration-induced job reallocation of natives towards occupations involving more complex tasks tends to increase their wages, without affecting their employment.
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The adjustment of firms to immigration attenuates the negative impact of immigration on natives’ wages.
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Exposure to immigrants, especially to those who are linguistically different from natives, favors the reduction in anti-immigration attitudes.

Project-related scientific publications Select publication   Preotu, Veronica Emigration as a Pacifying Force? 2016   Couttenier, Mathieu, Veronica Petrencu, Dominic Rohner and Mathias Thoenig The Violent Legacy of Conflict: Evidence on Asylum Seekers, Crime, and Public Policy in Switzerland 2019   Aleksynska, Mariya, Samia Kazi Aoul and Veronica Petrencu Deficiencies in conditions of work as a cost to labour migration: concepts, extent and implications 2017   Ariu, Andrea, Frédéric Docquier and Mara P. Squicciarini Governance quality and net migration flows 2016   Couttenier, Mathieu, Veronica Petrencu, Dominic Rohner and Mathias Thoenig The Violent Legacy of Victimization: Post-Conflict Evidence on Asylum Seekers, Crimes and Public Policy in Switzerland 2016   Müller, Tobias and Silvio Hong Tiing Tai Individual attitudes towards migration: reconciling opposing views 2016