New from IMR Labor Markets, Diaspora Policies, and Migration Flows

March 13, 2019

The Spring 2019 edition of the International Migration Review (IMR) is now available online and in print through paid or institutional subscription. This edition is sorted thematically into three sections. The first section examines labor markets, skills, and mobility, including a paper on immigrant discrimination patterns in hiring. The second section looks at out-migration, diaspora policies, and those left behind, highlighted by an article on Moroccan diaspora policies. The third section, on migration flows and migrant behavior, features an article examining the divide between internal and international migration research. Lastly, this edition has six new book reviews, which are free to access.

The Matching Hierarchies Model: Evidence from a Survey Experiment on Employers’ Hiring Intent Regarding Immigrant Applicants
Daniel Auer, Giuliano Bonoli, Flavia Fossati, and Fabienne Liechti

This article proposes a “matching hierarchies” model to understand why immigrants encounter labor-market integration difficulties. The model combines ethnic and occupational rankings to predict which candidates employers will favor for particular occupations. Using a Swiss survey experiment, the model finds that employers’ perceptions of immigrants are consistent with ethnic rankings based on affinity (or lack thereof) with certain ethnicities. However, the model also finds that occupational rankings in evaluating immigrant candidates differ depending on the nature of the occupation. An immigrant background is a disadvantage in high-skilled occupations, whereas an immigrant background is less of a disadvantage in low-skilled occupations. By clarifying these disadvantage patterns, the article argues that it is important to consider factors such as occupational rankings in understanding discrimination based on nationality.

Competing Origin-country Perspectives on Emigrant Descendants: Moroccan Diaspora Institutions’ Policy Views and Practices Regarding the “Next Generation Abroad”
Rilke Mahieu

This article analyzes Morocco’s diaspora policies to understand origin-state perspectives toward descendants of the Moroccan diaspora. Through an in-depth inquiry of two institutions supporting Moroccans living abroad, it explores the practices and rationalities behind diaspora policies targeting the “next generation” of the diaspora. It finds that different governing rationalities influence Morocco’s cultural diaspora policies. The rationalities also disagree on the fundamental question of whose interests diaspora policies should serve primarily: the homeland’s or the diaspora’s. These findings draw attention to the way in which diaspora governance changes with the emergence of second- and third-generation diaspora populations, and the implications of different governing rationalities toward diaspora populations.

Mind the Gap? Quantifying Interlinkages between Two Traditions in Migration Literature
Joanna Nestorowicz and Marta Anacka

This article empirically tests the size of the proclaimed gap between internal and international migration research. Using Web of Science data and bibliometric techniques such as citation analysis, it provides quantitative measures of the gap’s size. This gap, it finds, is sizable, and the internal migration literature is more commonly cited in international migration literature than the other way around. Second, the article examines the conceptual overlap between the two branches of migration literature, pointing to significant commonalities. Lastly, it searches for ways to bridge the divide in internal and international migration research to create a single, holistic area of study.

The full table of contents for the Spring 2019 issue of IMR is available below:

Issue Information

Table of Contents

Labor Markets, Skills, and Mobility

“You Better Move On”: Determinants and Labor Market Outcomes of Graduate Migration from Italy
Giulia Assirelli, Carlo Barone, and Ettore Recchi

A “U-Shaped” Pattern of Immigrants’ Occupational Careers? A Comparative Analysis of Italy, Spain, and France
Ivana Fellini and Raffaele Guetto

Different Patterns of Labor Market Integration by Migration Motivation in Europe: The Role of Host Country Human Capital
Wouter Zwysen

The Matching Hierarchies Model: Evidence from a Survey Experiment on Employers’ Hiring Intent Regarding Immigrant Applicants
Daniel Auer, Giuliano Bonoli, Flavia Fossati, and Fabienne Liechti

Out-migration, Diaspora Policies, and the Left Behind

Leaving Work Behind? The Impact of Emigration on Female Labor Force Participation in Morocco
Audrey Lenoël and Anda David

Father’s Repeat Migration and Children’s Educational Performance
Siddartha Aradhya, Kirk Scott, and Christopher D. Smith

Competing Origin-country Perspectives on Emigrant Descendants: Moroccan Diaspora Institutions’ Policy Views and Practices Regarding the “Next Generation Abroad”
Rilke Mahieu