Economic Essays on the Dynamics of Life: Immigration, work, partnership, and family

Abstract

Labor markets and individual decisions are highly interrelated. This dissertation analyzes important intersections between the two. Its four chapters are based on large, mostly admin- istrative micro data. The last three chapters apply innovative quasi-experimental methods, while the first chapter provides a descriptive analysis.

The first chapter describes recent immigration patterns in Germany, particularly from the EU. It introduces an innovative imputation method to identify recent labor market immigrants. This allows us to the inspect in detail who are the immigrants, who stay in Germany and who are those that leave Germany again. We show that the labor market success in Germany plays an important role.

The second chapter inspects the effects of this recent EU immigration on the German labor market. EU Eastern Enlargement elicited a rise in (temporary) labor market oriented immi- gration to Germany starting in May 2011. Taking into account that not all immigrants stay permanently and that outmigration flows are selective, this paper classifies recent EU im- migrants into “new arrivals” and “stayers” drawing on administrative social security data (2007-2019). This novel strategy allows us to separately identify their potentially opposing short- and medium-run effects on labor market outcomes in Germany. We find a transitory negative wage effect among German nationals at the bottom of the wage distribution; and a permanent positive effect on (full-time) employment.

In the third chapter, I investigate employment differences within couples and use German administrative data as well as survey data. Gender gaps in employment have narrowed but remain substantial, particularly among couples. To estimate how improved female wage op- portunities influence partners’ employment choices, I exploit demand-driven wage changes in job tasks and German administrative data. Results indicate women respond positively, al- beit at a diminishing rate, to relative wage improvements, while male partners also increase their labor supply in response. Consequently, the work hours gap within couples narrows, but doesn’t close and even widens in certain groups. Potential explanations for these patterns building on Becker’s household model include comparative advantages for women, and rel- ative income preferences and gender identity norms for men.

The last chapter, looks at a family policy in Denmark and uses administrative data of the full population. It examines Denmarks 1984 parental leave reform, among the first to grant fathers paid leave. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that introducing shared parental leave mainly increased mothers leave, with modest paternal uptake. Adding two weeks of earmarked leave for fathers significantly raised their participation without reducing mothers leave. Fathers who took leave once were more likely to do so again. However, we find no evidence of intergenerational effects on the affected childrens fertility or parental leave behavior.