Skill-based immigrant selection and labor market outcomes by visa category

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781782546078.00033

The growing role of skills in today’s knowledge-based economies and the aging of populations that emerge as a result of decreased fertility and longer life expectancy have substantially increased the importance of immigration for many countries, making it one of the top policy priorities. Among many impacts of immigration on the receiving countries, economic consequences attract a lot of attention and form an important part of the debate on immigration. Receiving countries face important decisions in terms of the size of immigrants to be admitted, the composition in terms of various visa categories, and the selection mechanism that determines admission within each category. These decisions, in turn, have important implications for the economic consequences of immigration in the receiving countries. A large number of studies within the economics literature focus on the selectivity of immigrants in terms of skills they bring to the host countries. Studies that focus on the selectivity of immigrants relative to the source country populations aim to uncover the factors that determine the migration decisions.