01 Feb New TEMPER Working Paper «Returns to human capital in France, Spain and the UK using individual level data»

In this paper, we look at differences in how migrants from different skill profiles obtain returns to their education once in their destination societies (France, Spain and the UK). We develop a hypothesis about how migrants with low, mid or high educational credentials differ from natives and test them using PIAAC data (OECD).

Our research contributes to the literature on both immigrant integration and migrant-native labour market inequality. Being able to obtain the most from one’s educational investments is key to describing the market conditions under which high skilled migrants interact with their host societies, and ultimately to understanding how different the pull factors are across destination countries. The paper offers two clear conclusions. The United Kingdom appears as the single most attractive destination for the most educated migrants because it minimizes the disadvantage in the labour market. France lags somewhat behind the UK, somewhere close to Spain.