Abstract
This paper examines the connection between illegal migration, minimum wages, and enforcement policy. We first explore the employers' decision regarding the employment of illegal migrants in the presence of an effective minimum wage. We show that the employers' decision depends on the wage gap between those of the legal and illegal workers and on the penalty for employing illegal workers. We consider the effects a change in the minimum wage has on the employment of illegal immigrants and local workers. We conclude by considering the optimal migration policy taking into consideration social welfare issues.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Work, Earnings and Other Aspects of the Employment Relation |
| Editors | Solomon Polachek, Konstantinos Tatsiramos |
| Pages | 197-224 |
| Number of pages | 28 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2008 |
Publication series
| Name | Research in Labor Economics |
|---|---|
| Volume | 28 |
| ISSN (Print) | 0147-9121 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We are grateful to the editors and two anonymous referees for their helpful and important comments. We thank the participants of Annual Meeting of the Israel Economic Association (2007) and the seminar participants at the Department of Agricultural Economics, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for helpful and constructive comments. Part of the paper is based on one of the chapters from Odelia Heizler's thesis written at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Financial support from the Adar Foundation of the Economics Department of Bar-Ilan University is gratefully acknowledged.
Funding
We are grateful to the editors and two anonymous referees for their helpful and important comments. We thank the participants of Annual Meeting of the Israel Economic Association (2007) and the seminar participants at the Department of Agricultural Economics, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for helpful and constructive comments. Part of the paper is based on one of the chapters from Odelia Heizler's thesis written at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Financial support from the Adar Foundation of the Economics Department of Bar-Ilan University is gratefully acknowledged.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Adar Foundation of the Economics Department of Bar-Ilan University |
