Gaining from Migration: a Case Study on Greece

Migration and Development: A Euro-Mediterranean Perspective

Rhodes26 April 2007

Theodora XenogianiOECD Development Centre

Labour Market Outcomes of Foreign Workers

• Occupation• Sector of work

• Employment, unemployment and participation rates

• Wages• Job stability

Contrary to the experience of Northern European countries, immigrants in Greece have higher employment and participation rates than natives

Occupation at Work

• Immigrant workers are highly segregated in specific occupations. Half of them would have to change jobs for their distribution to be the same as that of natives

•Half of foreign men are craft and related trades workers

•57% of foreign women are employed in elementary occupations

•The share of foreign workers employed as managers and professionals has decreased substantially between 1993 and 2006

Sector of Work: Foreign Men1993 2006

Agriculture, hunting and Forestry 4.7 7.8

Fishing 0.5 0.1

Mining and quarrying 0.2 0.4

Manufacturing 26.8 18.0

Electricity, gas and water supply 0.5 0.4

Construction 26.4 49.3

Wholesale and retail trade; vehicle repair 15.1 8.8

Hotels and restaurants 6.5 7.1

Transport, storage, communications 4.5 2.5

Financial intermediation 1.1 0.0

Real estate, renting and business activities

4.4 2.2

Public administration and defense 1.5 0.6

Education 2.3 0.4

Health and social work 1.5 0.5

Other service activities 3.1 1.0

Private households with employees 0.7 0.9Source: LFS 2006b

Immigrants represent 26% of total

employment in construction. Their

share was only 3% in 1993

Sector of Work: Foreign Women

1993 2006

Agriculture, hunting and Forestry 5.2 5.9

Fishing 0.8 0.0

Manufacturing 15.4 8.7

Construction 0.8 0.9

Wholesale and retail trade; vehicle repair

9.7 7.2

Hotels and restaurants 12.0 16.3

Transport, storage, communications 3.7 0.6

Financial intermediation 0.8 0.7

Real estate, renting and business activities

5.8 5.2

Public administration and defense 1.4 0.0

Education 9.9 1.8

Health and social work 3.0 3.5

Other service activities 5.5 2.9

Private households with employees 25.7 46.3

extra-territorial organisations 0.4 0.2Source: LFS 2006b

71% of female domestic

employees are foreigners

Labour Market Outcomes

Controlling for basic characteristics…:

• Foreign men have higher employment and labour market participation rates than Greek men

• Foreign men and women do not have higher than natives unemployment rates

• But…both foreign men and women are less likely to hold permanent jobs

Foreign-Natives Gaps in Labour Market Outcomes

Men Women Men Women

Participation=1 Permanent Job=1

Foreign 0.08 0.019 -0.287 -0.47

Citizen=1 (0.012)** (0.033) (0.039)** (0.047)**

Observations

5068 5329 2246 1672

Employment Unemployment

Foreign 0.124 0.005 -0.017 0.01

Citizen=1 (0.018)** (0.033) (0.01) (0.014)

Observations

5068 5329 5037 5329

Source: SILC 2004

Foreign-Natives Gaps in Wages

Source: SILC 2004

Log (Wages)

Men Women

Foreign -0.184 -0.116 -0.384 -0.159

Citizen=1 (0.028)** (0.029)** (0.042)** (0.044)**

Occupation Dummies

no yes no yes

Observations

2251 2251 1672 1672

Foreign-Natives Gaps in Wages

• Substantial wage gaps between foreign

nationals and Greek nationals, over the

period 1999-2005

• Significant drop in wage gap after 2003

Understanding the Wage Gap

The wage gaps between immigrant and Greek

men are mostly explained by differences in

the returns to their characteristics and not

differences in their actual characteristics.

The opposite is true for women.

Thank you!Ευχαριστώ!

www. oecd.org/devwww.oecd.org/dev/migration