Return Migration and Earnings Mobility in the Middle East and North Africa
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25071/1874-6322.40500Keywords:
Return migration, intergenerational mobility, MENAAbstract
This study examines how workers’ pre-existing socio-economic profiles and
cross-border return-migration experiences affect their lifetime and
intergenerational transmission of economic status in three Middle East and
Northern Africa (MENA) countries. We apply transition analysis and
instrumental variable regressions to seven harmonized Labor Market Panel
Surveys - Egypt (1998, 2006, 2012), Jordan (2010, 2016), and Tunisia
(2014) - to link the current economic outcomes of prime-age male workers
to those in prior years and to those of their fathers. Real earnings in prior
years are imputed using the historic positions of individuals, as well as the
job-type and occupation group cell means observed in the survey year. We
find that migration decisions and destinations are driven by economic,
geographic, and family-history considerations. Return migrants land
higher-earning jobs and are more mobile across generations than
never-migrants. They outperform non-migrants, not only now but also in
previous years and, according to evidence, even before their migration spell.
After controlling for mitigating factors, the role of migration disappears,
implying that individual-level effects and demographics are responsible.
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