by
TOM ADDISON & CHRISTOPHER WORSWICK
DECEMBER 1999
Department of Economics. University of Melbourne. Parkville Victoria 3052 Australia
ABSTRACT
In comparison with the existing Australian literature, this paper provides an alternative approach of investigating the impact of recent immigrants on the real wages and unemployment of native Australians. A national cross-section analysis of 48 labour markets is employed using data from six consecutive ABS Income Distribution surveys for the years 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994,1995 and 1996. The evidence indicates that recent immigrants do not significantly affect the real wages of native Australians. This conclusion is unaltered when the specific impact of immigration on less educated or young Australian workers is investigated. Furthermore, it is found that immigration reduces the probability that a 'typical' or 'representative' Australian individual is unemployed. Overall, these results add to a growing body of literature which has consistently failed to find that immigration adversely affects the wages or employment prospects of native-born Australians.
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