TY  - GEN
AB  - Intuitively, one can expect that migrant workers have smaller social networks in the
new destination country and by that smaller probability of finding a job through referrals.
However, empirical analysis of the SOEP data from 2002 to 2008 show that 41.21% of migrant
workers and 31.79% of native workers found their current job through referrals. Estimation
results of the panel probit model with random effects show that 7.26% statistically significant
difference of the predicted probabilities of using referrals between migrant and native workers
is not explained by the characteristics of the individuals and firms. In order to explain this
puzzle, this paper presents a search and matching model with heterogeneous worker groups
and several search channels. The firm observes the noisy signal of the productivity, the
nationality and the search channel of the worker to form unbiased expectations about the
true productivity of the worker. The probabilities to be hired for the two worker groups and
different search channels are determined using ex-ante union bargained wage and expectations
of the firm. Calibration results of the model show that even when migrant workers have
smaller size of the social network, they gain more from recommendations, because their
employment chances are initially much lower than employment chances of native workers.
DA  - 2018
DO  - 10.4119/unibi/2918737
KW  - social contacts, referrals, productivity signal, matching function
LA  - eng
PY  - 2018
SN  - 2196-2723
TI  - Why do migrant workers rely more often on referrals?
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0070-pub-29187370
Y2  - 2024-11-22T11:26:38
ER  -