The absorption of immigrants and its effects on the Thai wage structure

Type Working Paper
Title The absorption of immigrants and its effects on the Thai wage structure
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2010
URL http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1678278
Abstract
This paper investigates the impact of low-skilled immigration on the industry structure across the provinces of Thailand. In contrast to Thai workers with comparable education, we find no evidence of the Hecksher-Olin style absorption of foreign labour in any immigrant-intensive industry. This is primarily due to the temporary nature of the foreign workers. Furthermore, as in previous studies, we find the negative effects of immigration on low-skilled Thai wages to be small. The adverse impacts on existing foreign workers are much larger in comparison. Younger workers with less than a high school education suffer disproportionately more than their older counterparts. Finally, immigrant inflows are found to benefit high-skilled Thai workers with high school and college education.

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