Institut de Recerca en Economia Aplicada Regional i Pública Document de Treball 2014/27, 39 pàg. Research Institute of Applied Economics Working Paper 2014/27, 39 pag. Grup de Recerca Anàlisi Quantitativa Regional Document de Treball 2014/15, 39 pàg. Regional Quantitative Analysis Research Group Working Paper 2014/15 39 pag.

“Job loss among immigrant and native workers: evidence from

Spain’s economic downturn”

Elisabet Motellón and Enrique López-Bazo

Research Institute of Applied Economics Working Paper 2014/27, pàg. 2 Regional Quantitative Analysis Research Group Working Paper 2014/15, pag. 2

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Research Institute of Applied Economics Working Paper 2014/27, pàg. 3 Regional Quantitative Analysis Research Group Working Paper 2014/15, pag. 3

Abstract

The profound crisis that has affected the Spanish economy since mid-2008 has been characterized by significant job losses and a marked rise in the country´s unemployment rate. However, unemployment has had a differential impact on different population groups. Compared to native, immigrant workers have experienced higher rates of job loss. Against this backdrop, this paper examines the differences between immigrants and natives (distinguished by gender) in terms of their probability of suffering job loss in the downturn of late 2008 and 2009. Our results indicate that the higher rate of job loss among female immigrant workers can be fully explained by their lower endowment of human capital. By contrast, human capital endowment and over-representation in certain occupations, sectors and regions in which the crisis had greatest impact do not appear to be the only reason for the penalty suffered by immigrant males in terms of their chances of losing their job in the downturn.

JEL classification: I24, J24, J61 Keywords: Immigration, Job Loss, Crisis, Labour Market Segregation, Spain

Elisabet Motellón. AQR Research Group-IREA. Department of Econometrics. University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 690, 08034 Barcelona, Spain. E-mail: emotellon@ub.edu

Enrique López-Bazo. AQR Research Group-IREA. Department of Econometrics. University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 690, 08034 Barcelona, Spain. E-mail: elopez@ub.edu     Acknowledgements The suggestions and encouragement from reviewers and guest editors have help us to substantially improve this manuscript. The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovations, Plan Nacional de I+D+i, Project ECO2011‐30260‐C03‐03, and the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme project SEARCH, SSH‐2010‐2.2‐266834. 

Research Institute of Applied Economics Working Paper 2014/01, pàg. 5 Regional Quantitative Analysis Research Group Working Paper 2014/01, pag. 5