Verdrängungsprozesse am Arbeitsmarkt

Abstract: This study analyzes some features of labour market dynamics in Austria during the period of rapidly rising foreign labour supply in the years 1989-1991. Using administrative microdata on a representative sample of Austrian establishments, we reconstruct wage developments and the evolution of firm-specific employment patterns with a special view on the gross flows of jobs and workers being behind it. While we do find some evidence for significant displacement effects, with earlier immigrants having been particularly affected by the massive inflow of foreign workers, the study also demonstrates that these displacement mechanisms are embedded in a far more general process of labour market turnover. Thus, any interpretation in the sense of "foreign workers stealing jobs from natives or earlier immigrants" should be regarded as overly simplistic.;