Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation,
Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies

Abstract: Occupational sorting, classified by the skill-biased technical change theory, ex-plains the largest share of the estimated wage variation of native and refugee im-migrant workers. Refugee workers are less likely to be employed in high-paid jobs and more likely to be sorted into low-skilled jobs than comparable native-born workers. Within most occupations, the differences are small or non-existent. In several STEM occupations, commonly regarded as strategic for innovation-driven economies and in which many companies face difficulties in recruiting personnel, the gap is modest or even reversed. Considering wages as a proxy for produc-tivity, this paper using Swedish register data has implications for innovation and growth in many OECD countries characterized by an aging population and short-ages of skilled workers.

Keywords: Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition; employer-employee data; occupational sorting; productivity; refugee immigrants

JEL-codes: C23; F22; J24; J60; O15

Language: English

44 pages, First version: June 1, 2020. Revised: March 24, 2022.

Full text files

cesiswp485.pdf  Full text

Download statistics

• Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies
• Home page for this series

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Vardan Hovsepyan ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

This page generated on 2024-02-21 12:08:40.