Time
23 Mar 2018 / 10:00 to 10:00
Event
National Treasury of South Africa
Climate and energy
Academic presentation

Immigration and the labour market outcomes of natives in developing countries: A case study of South Africa

A presentation by Nzinga H. Broussard is delivered at the National Treasury of South Africa. The presentation discusses the effects that immigration has had on labour market outcomes of native-born black South Africans using South African census data from 2001, 2007, and 2011.

Using instrumental variables to control for the potential endogenous location choices of immigrants to South Africa, the results show that immigrant inflows decreased the employment-to-population ratios and total annual income of black native-born South Africans.

Additionally, results suggest a negative effect of immigrant inflows on the employment ratio and total annual income of black native-born South Africans employed in the formal sector. Results show that immigration caused an intersectoral employment shift. For black male South Africans, the composition of the employed labour force shifted to the formal sector, and for black female South Africans, the composition of the employed labour force shifted to the informal sector.

The presentation targets government officials from Statistics South Africa (StatSA), Department of Home Affairs, and National Treasury – Economic Policy, Public Finance.