Immigration and employment dynamics in European regions

This paper provides novel evidence on the regional impact of immigration on native employment in a cross-country framework based on rich European Labour Force Surveys and past censuses data for 2010-2019. The paper finds a modest average impact of the rise in the share of immigrants across European regions on the employment-to-population rate of natives, but highly uneven effects over time and across workers and regions. The short-run estimates show adverse employment effects in response to immigration that nevertheless disappear in the longer run. High-school or less educated native workers experience employment losses due to immigration, whereas higher educated workers are more likely to experience employment gains. Moreover, the presence of institutions providing strict employment protection and high coverage of collective wage agreements exert a protective effect on native employment. Finally, the paper finds that regions experiencing strong growth can absorb immigrant workers, resulting in little or no effect on the native workforce, including in the short-run.