Abstract

This article shows that the wage gap between native and immigrant workers depends on the export activity of the employing firm and the skill level of the worker. Using French employer-employee data from the manufacturing sector covering the period 2005 to 2015, we show that the conventional wage gap between natives and immigrants closes, and even reverses, for white-collar workers employed in exporting firms. The same is not found for blue-collar workers. We build a model incorporating heterogeneous firms and workers, to show that our findings can be rationalised in a setting where white-collar immigrants capture an informational rent within exporting firms. We provide further suggestive evidence consistent with this mechanism.

Joint work with Guzmán Ourens and Giulia Sabbadini.

Location:

CEPS - University of Val d'Essonne
Boulevard François Mitterrand, 91025, Evry