Evaluation and determinants of the Labor Market Integration of Immigrant Cohorts in Türkiye Using Pooled Cross-Sectional Data

Year 2025, Volume: 14 Issue: 1, 68 - 107, 12.03.2025

Egemen Can Toker , Ali Berker

Abstract

This study examines the labor market integration of foreign-born males in Türkiye using data from the Turkish Household Labor Force Survey (HLFS) from 2009 to 2021. It assesses labor force participation, employment, and wage levels, comparing various immigrant cohorts to native-born males. Factors such as education, age, and marital status are controlled. Findings indicate that immigrants arriving between 1980 and 1989 achieved the highest labor market success, outperforming other immigrant groups in participation, employment rates, and wages. In contrast, those arriving between 2000 and 2011 and after 2012 showed lower adaptation levels. These results highlight the evolving dynamics of immigrant labor market integration in Türkiye over time.

Keywords

Labor Market Integration, Wage Levels, Pooled Cross-Sectional Data, Foreign-Borns, Cohort

Havuzlanmış Yatay Kesit Veri ile Türkiye’deki Göçmen Kohortlarının İşgücü Piyasası Uyum Düzeyi ve Belirleyenleri

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Türkiye'deki yurtdışı doğumlu erkeklerin işgücü piyasasına uyumunu analiz etmektedir. Göçmenlerin işgücü piyasasına uyumu, işgücüne katılım, istihdam ve ücret seviyeleri üzerinden değerlendirilmiştir. 2009-2021 yılları arasındaki TÜİK Hanehalkı İşgücü Anketi (HİA) mikro veri seti kullanılarak, yurtdışı doğumlu erkeklerin işgücü piyasası çıktıları incelenmiştir. Araştırma, göçmenlerin Türkiye doğumlu erkeklere kıyasla işgücü piyasası çıktıları açısından nasıl performans gösterdiğini belirlemek için çeşitli “kohortlar” arasında karşılaştırmalar yapmıştır. Eğitim seviyesi, yaş ve medeni durum gibi faktörlerin işgücü piyasası çıktıları üzerindeki etkileri de kontrol edilmiştir. Sonuçlar, 1980-89 yılları arasında Türkiye'ye gelen göçmenlerin işgücü piyasasında en başarılı grup olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu kohort hem işgücüne katılım hem de istihdam oranları ve bunlara ek olarak ücret seviyeleri açısından diğer göçmen gruplarını geride bırakmıştır. 2000-2011 arasında ve 2012 sonrası gelen göçmenler ise işgücü piyasasına daha düşük uyum seviyeleri göstermiştir. Bu bulgular, Türkiye'deki göçmenlerin işgücü piyasasına entegrasyonunun zaman içinde değişen dinamiklerini ortaya koymaktadır.

Keywords

İşgücü Piyasası Uyumu, Ücret Düzeyleri, Havuzlanmış Yatay Kesit Veri, Yurtdışı doğumlular, Kohort

Ethical Statement

Bu çalışma, sorumlu yazarın diğer yazarla birlikte hazırladığı "Evaluation of labour market integration of foreign-born population in Turkey: A cohort analysis" başlıklı yüksek lisans tezinden türetilmiştir.

References

• Abdulla, K. (2020). Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Immigrants in Low-Income Countries. Journal of Comparative Economics, 48(4), 951-973.
• Accetturo, A., ve Infante, L. (2010). Immigrant earnings in the Italian labour market. Giornale degli economisti e Annali di Economia, 1-27.
• Aldashev, A., Gernandt, J., ve Thomsen, S. (2012). The Immigrant-Native Wage Gap in Germany. Jahrbucher fur Nationalokonomie und Statistik. 232. 490-517. 10.1515/jbnst-2012-0502.
• Antecol, H., Kuhn, P., ve Trejo, S. J. (2006). Assimilation via prices or quantities? Labor market institutions and immigrant earnings growth in Australia, Canada, and the United States. Journal of Human Resources, 41(4), 821-840.
• Aydemir, A., ve Skuterud, M. (2005). Explaining the deteriorating entry earnings of Canada's immigrant cohorts, 1966-2000. Canadian Journal of Economics, 38(2), 641-671.
• Bacolod, M., ve Rangel, M. A. (2017). Economic assimilation and skill acquisition: Evidence from the occupational sorting of childhood immigrants. Demography, 54(2), 571-602.
• Bauer, T. K., ve Zimmermann, K. F. (2000). Immigration policy in integrated national economies (No. 170). IZA Discussion Papers.
• Beaman, L. A. (2012). Social networks and the dynamics of labour market outcomes: Evidence from refugees resettled in the U.S. Review of Economic Studies, 79(1), 128–161. https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdr017
• Beenstock, M., Chiswick, B. R., ve Paltiel, A. (2010). Testing the immigrant assimilation hypothesis with longitudinal data. Review of Economics and Statistics, 92(2), 479-485.
• Bellemare, C. (2007). A life-cycle model of outmigration and economic assimilation of immigrants in Germany. European Economic Review, 51(3), 553-576.
• Beltan, S. B. (2006). Citizenship and identity in Turkey: The case of the post-1980 Turkish-Muslim immigrants from Macedonia [Unpublished M. A. PolSci Thesis], Bogazici Universitesi.
• Beyer, R.C.M. (2019). Wage Performance of Immigrants in Germany. German Economic Review, 20(4), e141-e169. https://doi.org/10.1111/geer.12159
• Bhattarai, K. (2017). Determinants of Wages and Labour Supply in the UK. Chinese Business Review, 16(3), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.17265/1537-1506/2017.03.002
• Bodvarsson, O. B., ve Van den Berg, H. (2013). The Economics of Immigration: Theory and Policy. Springer-Verlag, New York.
• Borjas, G. J. (1985). Assimilation, changes in cohort quality, and the earnings of immigrants. Journal of Labor Economics, 3(4), 463-489.
• Borjas, G. J. (1987). Self-selection and the earnings of immigrants. The American economic review, 531-553.
• Borjas, G. J. (1995). The economic benefits from immigration. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 9(2), 3-22.
• Borjas, G. J. (2000). Ethnic enclaves and assimilation. Swedish Economic Policy Review, 7, 89–122.
• Borjas, G. J. (2014). Immigration economics. Harvard University Press. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wprgr
• Borjas, G. J. (2015). The slowdown in the economic assimilation of immigrants: Aging and cohort effects revisited again. Journal of Human Capital, 9(4), 483-517.
• Borjas, G. J. (2016). We wanted workers: Unraveling the immigration narrative. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Borjas, G. J. (2019). Immigration and economic growth (No. w25836). National Bureau of Economic Research.
• Burkert, C., ve Seibert, H. (2007). Labour market outcomes after vocational training in Germany: equal opportunities for migrants and natives? IAB-Discussion Paper, No. 31/2007 https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/32679/1/608260703.pdf
• Chiswick, B. R. (1978). The effect of Americanization on the earnings of foreign-born men. Journal of Political Economy, 86(5), 897-921.
• Chiswick, B. R., Lee, Y. L., ve Miller, P. W. (2005a). Immigrant earnings: a longitudinal analysis. Review of Income and Wealth, 51(4), 485-503.
• Chiswick, B. R., Lee, Y. L., ve Miller, P. W. (2005b). A longitudinal analysts of immigrant occupational mobility: A test of the immigrant assimilation hypothesis. International Migration Review, 39(2), 332-353.
• Chiswick, B. R., ve Miller, P. W. (2007). The economics of language: International analyses. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203963159
• Chiswick, B. R., ve Miller, P. W. (2010). The effects of educational-occupational mismatch on immigrant earnings in Australia, with international comparisons. International Migration Review, 44(4), 869–898. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2010.00829.x
• Chiswick, B. R., ve Miller, P. W. (2011). The “negative” assimilation of immigrants: a special case. ILR Review, 64(3), 502-525.
• Chiswick, B. R., ve Miller, P. W. (2012). Negative and Positive Assimilation, Skill Transferability, and Linguistic Distance, Journal of Human Capital, 6, issue 1, p. 35 - 55, https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucp:jhucap:doi:10.1086/664794.
• Çetin, T. (2009). The socio-economic outcomes of the last Turkish migration from Bulgaria to Turkey. Journal of Turkish Studies, 3(7), 241-270.
• Duleep, H. O., ve Dowhan, D. J. (2002). Insights from longitudinal data on the earnings growth of US foreign-born men. Demography, 39(3), 485-506.
• Dustmann, C. (1994). Speaking fluency, writing fluency and earnings of migrants. J Popul Econ, 7, 133–156.
• Elrick, T., ve Lewandowska, E. (2008). Matching and Making Labour Demand and Supply: Agents in Polish Migrant Networks of Domestic Elderly Care in Germany and Italy. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 34(5), 717-734. doi:10.1080/13691830802105954
• Erdogan, M.M. (2015). Türkiye’deki Suriyeliler: Toplumsal Kabul ve Uyum. İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları, İstanbul.
• Fertig, M., ve Schurer, S. (2007). Earnings Assimilation of Immigrants in Germany: The Importance of Heterogeneity and Attrition Bias. No 30, SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
• Friedberg, R. M. (2000). You can't take it with you? Immigrant assimilation and the portability of human capital. Journal of labor economics, 18(2), 221-251.
• Gathmann, C., ve Keller, N. (2018). Access to citizenship and the economic assimilation of immigrants. The Economic Journal, 128(616), 3141-3181.
• Gollin, D. (2014). The Lewis Model: A 60-Year Retrospective. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 28(3), 71–88. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23800576
• Gorodzeisky, A., ve Semyonov, M. (2017). Labor force participation, unemployment and occupational attainment among immigrants in West European countries. PLoS One, 12(5), e0176856.
• Green, A. G., ve Green, D. A. (1999). The economic goals of Canada's immigration policy: Past and present. Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de Politiques, 425-451.
• Green, D. A., ve Worswick, C. (2012). Immigrant earnings profiles in the presence of human capital investment: Measuring cohort and macro effects. Labour Economics, 19(2), 241-259.
• Heinz F. F., Ward-Warmedinger M, (2006). Cross border labour mobility within an enlarged EU. European Central Bank, Occasional Paper Series No. 52
• Hou, F., ve Lu, Y. (2017). International students, immigration and earnings growth: the effect of a pre-immigration host-country university education. IZA Journal of Development and Migration, 7(1), 5.
• Hu, W. Y. (2000). Immigrant earnings assimilation: estimates from longitudinal data. American Economic Review, 90(2), 368-372.
• Hum, D., ve Simpson, W. (2004). Economic integration of immigrants to Canada: A short survey. Canadian Journal of Urban Research, 46-61.
• Husted, L., Nielsen, H. S., Rosholm, M., ve Smith, N. (2001). Employment and wage assimilation of male first‐generation immigrants in Denmark. International Journal of Manpower, 22(1/2), 39-71.
• International Organization for Migration (IOM). (2023, April 4). DTM Türkiye — Migrant Presence Monitoring - Situation Report (March 2023). IOM, Republic of Türkiye.
• İçduygu, A. (2014). Turkey’s migration transition and its implications for the Euro-Turkish transnational space. In Global Turkey in Europe II (p. 81).
• İçduygu, A., (2003). Irregular migration in Turkey (No. 12). IOM Migration Research Series, Geneva, International Organization for Migration.
• İçduygu, A., and D. Sert. 2015. The changing waves of migration from the Balkans to Turkey: A historical account. Migration in the Southern Balkans içinde eds. Vermeulen, H., M. Baldwin-Edwards, and R. Boeschoten. 85–104. Cham: Springer.
• İçduygu, A., ve Aksel, D. B. (2012). Türkiye’de düzensiz göç. Uluslararası Göç Örgütü Türkiye.
• İçduygu, A., ve Aksel, D. B. (2013). Turkish migration policies: A critical historical retrospective. Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs, 18(3), 167-190.
• İçduygu, A., ve Biehl, K. (2012). Türkiye’ye yönelik göçün değişen yörüngesi. Kentler ve Göç: Türkiye, İtalya, İspanya, 9-72.
• İçduygu, A., ve Diker, E. (2017). Labor market integration of Syrian refugees in Turkey: From refugees to settlers. The Journal of Migration Studies, 3(1), 12-35.
• İçduygu, A., ve Kirişci, K. (Eds.). (2009). Land of diverse migrations: Challenges of emigration and immigration in Turkey (Vol. 236). Arion Publishing.
• Kirişçi, K. (1995). Post second World War immigration from Balkan countries to Turkey. New Perspectives on Turkey, 12, 61-77.
• Kirişçi, K. (2000). Disaggregating Turkish Citizenship and Immigration Practices. Middle Eastern Studies, 36, (3), p. 8
• Kirişçi, K., ve Karaca, S. (2015). Hoşgörü ve Çelişkiler: 1989, 1991 ve 2011’de Türkiye’ye Yönelen Kitlesel Mülteci Akınları. In Türkiye’nin Göç Tarihi, 14, 295-314.
• Livingston, G., ve Kahn, J. R. (2002). An American dream unfulfilled: The limited mobility of Mexican Americans. Social Science Quarterly, 83(4), 1003–1012. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-6237.00129
• Lubotsky, D. (2011). The effect of changes in the US wage structure on recent immigrants' earnings. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 93(1), 59-71.
• Lucas, R. E. B. (2015). African Migration. Handbook of the Economics of International Migration, 1445–1596. doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-53768-3.00026-6
• McCarthy, J. (1983). Foundations of the Turkish Republic: social and economic change. Middle Eastern Studies, 19(2), 139-151.
• McDonald, J. T., ve Worswick, C. (1999a). Confirmations and Contradictions Wages, Implicit Contracts, and the Business Cycle: Evidence from Canadian Micro Data. Journal of Political Economy, 107(4), 884–892. https://doi.org/10.1086/250083
• McDonald, J. T., ve Worswick, C. (1999b). The earnings of immigrant men in Australia: Assimilation, cohort effects, and macroeconomic conditions. Economic Record, 75(1), 49–62. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4932.1999.tb02433.x
• McGuinness, S., ve Sloane, P. J. (2011). Labour market mismatch among UK graduates: An analysis using REFLEX data. Economics of Education Review, 30(1), 130–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2010.07.006
• McKenzie, D., Theoharides, C., ve Yang, D. (2014). Distortions in the international migrant labor market: evidence from Filipino migration and wage responses to destination country economic shocks. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 6(2), 49-75.
• Meyers, E. (2000). Theories of International Immigration Policy — A Comparative Analysis. International Migration Review, 34(4), 1245–1282. https://doi.org/10.1177/019791830003400407
• Mincer, J. (1974). Schooling, experience, and earnings. Human Behavior & Social Institutions No. 2. Murphy, K. M., ve Welch, F. (1990). Empirical age-earnings profiles. Journal of Labor economics, 8(2), 202-229.
• Mühleisen, W., Røthing, Å., ve Svendsen, S. H. B. (2012). Norwegian sexualities: Assimilation and exclusion in Norwegian immigration policy. Sexualities, 15(2), 139–155. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460712436540
• OECD. (2023). Foreign-born population (indicator). https://data.oecd.org/migration/foreign-born-population.htm#indicator-chart doi: 10.1787/5a368e1b-en (Accessed on 12 March 2023)
• Öksüz, H., ve Köksal, Ü. (2004). Emigration from Yugoslavia to Turkey (1923–1960). Turkish review of Balkan studies, 9, 145-177.
• Özgür-Baklacıoğlu, N. (2015). Yugoslavya’dan Türkiye’ye Göçlerde Sayılar, Koşullar ve Tartışmalar. In Ayhan Kaya and M. Murat Erdogan (Eds.), Türkiye’nin Göç Tarihi: 14. Yüzyıldan 21. Yüzyıla Türkiye’ye Göçler, Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları, İstanbul, 191-220.
• Özgür-Baklacioglu, N. (2006). Dual citizenship, extraterritorial elections and national policies: Turkish dual citizens in the Bulgarian-Turkish political sphere. In Beyond sovereignty: from status law to transnational citizenship, 319-358.
• Özyiğit, M., ve Mazgit, İ. (2021). İktisat fizik etkileşimi bağlamında ekonofizik ve gelir dağılımı. Sosyoekonomi, 29(48), 377-405. https://doi.org/10.17233/sosyoekonomi.2021.02.18
• Parla, A. (2003). Marking time along the Bulgarian-Turkish border. Ethnography, 4(4), 561-575.
• Parla, A. (2006). Longing, belonging and locations of homeland among Turkish immigrants from Bulgaria. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 6(4), 543-557.
• Poulton, H. (1993). The Balkans, Minority Rights Publications, London.
• Reitz, J. G. (2001). Immigrant skill utilization in the Canadian labour market: Implications of human capital research. Journal of International Migration and Integration/Revue de l'integration et de la migration internationale, 2(3), 347-378.
• Rivera‐Batiz, F. L. (1992). English Language Proficiency and the Earnings of Young Immigrants in U.S. Labor Markets. Review of Policy Research, 11(2), 165–175. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-1338.1992.tb00399.x
• Ross, D. R., ve Zimmermann, K. F. (1993). Evaluating reported determinants of labor demand. Labour Economics, 1(1), 71-84.
• Rutledge, Z., ve Peri, G. (2020). Economic Assimilation of Mexicans and Central Americans in the United States. IZA DP No. 12976
• Schaafsma, J., ve Sweetman, A. (2001). Immigrant earnings: age at immigration matters. Canadian Journal of Economics, 1066-1099.
• Schumacher, E. J. (2011). Foreign‐born nurses in the US labor market. Health Economics, 20(3), 362-378.
• Spence, M. (1973). Job Market Signaling. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 87(3), 355–374. https://doi.org/10.2307/1882010
• Stiglitz, J. E. (1975). The Theory of “Screening,” Education, and the Distribution of Income. The American Economic Review, 65(3), 283–300. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1804834
• Şimşir, B. (1986). "Migrations from Bulgaria to Turkey: The 1950-1951 Exodus", Dış Politika, 7 (3-4), p. 68.
• Takenaka, A., Nakamuro, M., ve Ishida, K. (2016). Negative assimilation: How immigrants experience economic mobility in Japan. International Migration Review, 50(2), 506-533.
• Tekeli, İ., ve İlkin, S. (2003). Cumhuriyetin harcı (Vol. 2). İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, İstanbul.
• Toker, E. C., & Berker, A. (2024). Testing the Hypothesis of the Economic Assimilation of Immigrants: Türkiye Case. İzmir İktisat Dergisi, 39(4), 1011-1026. https://doi.org/10.24988/ije.1462800
• Tunalı, İ. (2023). Unofficial User’s Guide to the Household Labor Force Survey, Turkey. Ekonomi-Tek, 12(2), 35-76. UNHCR. (2023). Syria regional refugee response (indicator).
• https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/syria#_ga=2.140080435.1491782074.1618212486-1640337075.1617176851 (Accessed on 12 March 2023)
• Villarreal, A., ve Tamborini, C. R. (2018). Immigrants’ economic assimilation: Evidence from longitudinal earnings records. American Sociological Review, 83(4), 686-715.
• Xie, Y., ve Gough, M. (2011). Ethnic Enclaves and the Earnings of Immigrants. Demography, 48(4), 1293–1315. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-011-0058-8
• Zahl‐Thanem, A., ve Haugen, M. S. (2019). Attitudes Toward Immigrants in Rural Norway. A Rural‐Urban Comparison. Sociologia Ruralis, 59(4), 685-700.
• Zimmermann, K. F., Bauer, T., ve Lofstrom, M. (2000). Immigration policy, assimilation of immigrants and natives’ sentiments towards immigrants: Evidence from 12 OECD-countries. Swedish Economic Policy Review, 7(ii), 11–53. http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/1m58x0z3