Economic Consequences of Mass Migration: The Venezuelan Exodus in Peru
Year: 2024
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: We study the effects of mass migration from Venezuela on Peruvian labor markets. In 2017–2018, about 870,000 Venezuelans migrated to Peru; about 84% settled in the Lima metropolitan area, where the percentage of Venezuelans in the working age population went from nil to over 10%. Migrants were more educated in average than the local labor force, and did nor face large cultural barriers. We propose a simple assignment model of the labor market, which suggests that migration will lead to a reallocation of local workers toward lower skill jobs. Using synthetic control methods, and comparing Lima with a group of other Peruvian cities, we find evidence of adjustment in occupational structure in the direction predicted by the model. Overall, market adjustment to a large shock in labor supply was strikingly smooth.
Source: Economía
DOI: 10.31389/eco.436
Institutions: University of Maryland, College Park, George Mason University
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4395667181