Transnational Labor Markets: Migration of Workers Between Austria and Germany

Flows of workers between nations are typically studied from the perspective of either the receiving country or the sending country. With the rise of new forms of circular, temporary, and transnational migration patterns, however, it is increasingly important to be able to connect the experiences of migrants in the sending and receiving countries, and to study the determinants of bi-directional migration flows.

In this project we propose to use a unique combination of detailed administrative records to describe and analyze simultaneous migration flows between Austria and Germany. Specifically, we propose to use linked Social Security earnings records for the two countries to study the labor market outcomes of individuals who move between the countries. By linking the individual records of migrants in the receiving country to their records in the sending country, we can address a series of important research questions that cannot be answered using data from either the receiving or sending country alone. What factors lead some workers to move to a new country for work? How long do migrants typically stay in the host country? Do some migrants move permanently? What happens to those who return to their home country? How are migration decisions and migrants’ outcomes affected by changes in the institutional and legal environment? Based on the novel data source the project addresses the following three main research topics. First, we will provide a detailed description of migration flows between Austria and Germany in different dimensions of the sending and receiving country. Second, we will investigate labor market outcomes before and after the first migration experience. This will give us a sense of the selection into emigration as well as its impact on earnings and employment. Third we will provide a detailed analysis of return and circular (repeat) migration.

Prof. Dr. Andrea Weber (WU Vienna) 
Prof. Dr. Rudolf Winter-Ebmer (Johannes Kepler University of Linz)

Julia Schmieder (DIW Berlin)

Antón, J. I., Böheim, R., Winter-Ebmer, R., 2016. The Effects of International Migration on Native Workers' Unionisation in Austria (PDF, not accessible, 742 KB).
 
Frühwirth-Schnatter, S., Pittner, S., Weber, A., Winter-Ebmer, R., 2016. Analysing Plant Closure Effects Using Time-Varying Mixture-of-Experts Markov Chain Clustering (PDF, not accessible, 2.6 MB).
 
Ahammer, A., Horvath, G. T., Winter-Ebmer, R., 2017. The Effect of Income on Mortality - New Evidence for the Absence of a Causal Link (PDF, not accessible, 378 KB).