Migrant Networks and Job Search Outcomes: Evidence from Displaced Workers

Migrants’ self-perception of technical skills and occupational realities:

“…For instance, a study in France by Lochmann et al (2018) revealed that in 2013 alone, 65% of migrants with very good French speaking and writing skills had jobs compared to 56% who had limited skills of the language. In the other years, statistics were at 59% to 43% in 2011, and 48% to 32% in 2010 on employability rate after language lessons (Colussi, 2015). This implies that, ability to speak a local language yields positive results on employability of migrants.…”

“…In another study by Colussi (2015), findings suggest that migrants of the same nationality, religious background and speakers of the same language frequently refer each other to their employers leading to increased rate of arrival job offers to migrants. For instance, the same study accounted for 26% of non-Western migrants who got their first jobs in Denmark through social and personal contacts.…”

The volatility effect of diaspora's location

“…Migrant workers do not select their destination randomly (Mayda, 2010;Pedersen, Pytlikova, & Smith, 2008) as they tend to migrate in priority to countries already hosting national fellows. Migrant national communities already installed in the host country favour the arrival of new national migrants by reducing the cost of migration and facilitating their integration into the labour market (Chort, 2017;Colussi, 2015;Munshi, 2003). Likewise, network effects in the destination country help migrants to diversify their portfolio of insurance mechanisms by associating informal diaspora-based insurance and formal mechanisms of social protection (Sabates-Wheeler & Waite, 2003).…”