Prague Economic Papers 2011, 20(1):40-58 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.386

The Impact of Czech Commuters on the German Labour Market

Michael Moritz
Institute for Employment Research, Regensburger Str. 104, D-90478 Nuremberg, Germany (michael.moritz@iab.de).

In the process of European integration, regions close to a border are especially affected by labour market liberalisation. Using data from the IAB employment subsample (IABS) and the employment register (BeH) for the period before and after the opening of the border between Germany and the Czech Republic (1980-2001) I shed light on the development of wages. Both German employees and Czech commuters in the western German borderland of Bavaria are compared to other domestic and foreign workers. At the beginning of the 1990s, German legislation was relatively unrestrictive, so that it was quite easy for Czech workers to obtain a work permit beyond the border. Most of them had only low education. More than 5% of the eastern Bavarian male, low-skilled workforce was reported Czech in the early 1990s. Surprisingly, precisely in this period German employees seem to have benefited from integration, but suffered in the years afterwards, when regulations on labour permits for commuters were far stricter.

Keywords: regional labour markets, international migration, cross-border commuting, wage differentials
JEL classification: F22, J61, R23

Published: January 1, 2011  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Moritz, M. (2011). The Impact of Czech Commuters on the German Labour Market. Prague Economic Papers, 20(1), 40-58. doi: 10.18267/j.pep.386
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Airola, J., Juhn, C. (2005), "Wage Inequality in Post-Reform Mexico." Bonn: IZA Discussion Paper No. 1525. Go to original source...
    2. Alecke, B., Hofmann, H., Meier, V., Riedel, J., Scharr, F., Untiedt, G., Werding, M. (2001), "Auswirkungen der EU-Osterweiterung auf Wirtschaft und Arbeitsmarkt in Bayern." Study for the Bavarian State Ministry of the Economy, Transport and Technology. Munich: ifo.
    3. Andrle, A., Dupal, J. (1997), "Arbeitsmarkt und regionale Disparitäten in der Tschechischen Republik," in Fassmann, H., ed., Die Rückkehr der Regionen. Beiträge zur regionalen Transformation Ostmitteleuropas, Beiträge zur Stadt- und Regionalforschung Band 15. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, pp. 37-82.
    4. ASAV - Anwerbestoppausnahmeverordnung (1997), http://bundesrecht.juris.de/asav/(accessed January 22, 2010).
    5. Blanchflower, D., Saleheen, J., Shadforth, C. (2007), "The Impact of the Recent Migration from Eastern Europe on the UK Economy." Bonn: IZA Discussion Paper No. 2615. Go to original source...
    6. Bröcker, J. (1998), "How Would an EU-Membership of the Visegrád Countries Affect Europe's Economic Geography?" Annals of Regional Science, 32 (1), pp. 91-114. Go to original source...
    7. Brücker, H. (2007), "Labor Mobility after the European Union's Eastern Enlargement: Who Wins, Who Loses?" Washington: GMF Paper Series.
    8. Buch, T., Dall Schmidt, T., Niebuhr, A. (2009), "Cross-Border Commuting in the Danish-German Border Region - Integration, Institutions and Cross-Border Interaction." Journal of Borderlands Studies, 24 (2), pp. 38-54. Go to original source...
    9. Doyle, N., Hughes, G., Wadensjö, E. (2006), "Freedom of Movement for Workers from Central and Eastern Europe. Experiences in Ireland and Sweden." Stockholm: Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies, Report No. 5/2006.
    10. Drinkwater, S., Eade, J., Garapich, M. (2009), "Poles Apart? EU Enlargement and the Labour Market Outcomes of Immigrants in the United Kingdom." International Migration, 47 (1), pp. 161-90. Go to original source...
    11. Dustmann, C., Ludsteck, J., Schönberg, U. (2007), "Revisiting the German Wage Structure." The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124 (2), pp. 843-81. Go to original source...
    12. Eurostat (2008), Regional Yearbook. Luxembourg: European Union.
    13. Eurostat (2009), Regional Yearbook. Luxembourg: European Union.
    14. Fitzenberger, B. (1999), "International Trade and the Skill Structure of Wages and Employment in West Germany." Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik, 219 (1-2), pp. 67-89. Go to original source...
    15. Gartner, H. (2005), "The Imputation of Wages above the Contribution Limit with the German IAB Employment Sample." Nuremberg: Institute for Employment Research, FDZ Methodenreport 2/2005.
    16. Gernandt, J., Pfeiffer, F. (2007), "Rising Wage Inequality in Germany." Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik, 227 (4), pp. 358-80. Go to original source...
    17. Gil-Pareja, S., Llorca-Vivero, R., Martínez-Serrano, J. A. (2006), "The Border Effect in Spain: The Basque Country Case." Regional Studies, 40 (4), pp. 335-45. Go to original source...
    18. Gilpin, N., Henty, M., Lemos, S., Portes, J., Bullen, C. (2006), "The Impact of Free Movement of Workers from Central and Eastern Europe on the UK Labour Market." London: Department for Work and Pensions, Working Paper No. 29.
    19. Hamann, S. (2005), "Die regionale IAB-Beschäftigtenstichprobe IABS-R01," in Grözinger, G., Matiaske, W., eds., Deutschland regional - sozialwissenschaftliche Daten im Forschungsverbund. München und Mering: Rainer Hampp Verlag, pp. 81-87.
    20. Kohn, K. (2006), "Rising Wage Dispersion, After All! The German Wage Structure at the Turn of the Century." Mannheim: ZEW Discussion Paper 06-31. Go to original source...
    21. Mayerhofer, P. (2004), "Austrian Border Regions and Eastern Integration." Review of Regional Research, 24 (1), pp. 73-104.
    22. McCallum, J. (1995), "National Borders Matter: Canada-US Regional Trade Patterns." American Economic Review, 85 (3), pp. 615-23.
    23. Mincer, J. (1974), Schooling, Experience, and Earnings. New York: Columbia University Press.
    24. Möller, J. (2008), "Wage Dispersion in Germany Compared to the US - Is there Evidence for Compression From Below?" International Economics and Economic Policy, 5 (4), pp. 345-61. Go to original source...
    25. Moritz, M. (2009a), "The Impact of European Integration on Wage Differentials in the Bavarian-Czech Border Region." Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv AStA, 3 (2), pp. 137-51. Go to original source...
    26. Moritz, M. (2009b), Labour Market Effects of European Integration in the Bavarian and Czech Border Regions. IAB-Bibliothek, 321, Dissertation, Bielefeld: Bertelsmann.
    27. Moritz, M., Gröger, M. (2007), "Labor Market Effects in the German-Czech Border Region - an Empirical Study Using the IAB Employment Sample (IABS)." Journal of Borderlands Studies, 22 (2), pp. 57-76. Go to original source...
    28. Münich, D., Svejnar, J., Terrell K. (2005), "Returns to Human Capital Under the Communist Wage Grid and during the Transition to a Market Economy." Review of Economics and Statistics, 87 (1), pp. 100-23. Go to original source...
    29. Nitsch, V. (2000), "National Borders and International Trade: Evidence from the European Union." Canadian Journal of Economics, 33 (4), pp. 1091-1105. Go to original source...
    30. Prager Zeitung (2001), "Zur Arbeit über die Grenze." February 15.
    31. Rouwendal, J. (1998), "Search Theory, Spatial Labor Markets, and Commuting." Journal of Urban Economics, 43 (1), pp. 1-22. Go to original source...
    32. Schettkat, R. (2007), "Sind 3 Euro schon zu viel? Aufklärendes zu Lohnspreizung und Beschäftigung." WSI Mitteilungen, 6/2007, pp. 335-43. Go to original source...
    33. Sinn, H.-W., Flaig, G., Werding, M., Munz, S., Düll, N., Hofmann, H. (2001), "EU-Erweiterung und Arbeitskräftemigration - Wege zu einer schrittweisen Annäherung der Arbeitsmärkte." Munich: Ifo-Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung Nr. 2.
    34. Skuratowicz, A. (2005), "Growing Wage Inequalities in Poland: Could Foreign Investment Be Part of the Explanation?" Brussels: European Commission, ECFIN Country Focus, 2 (5), pp. 1-5.
    35. Ullmann, H. (2006), "Die Situation des Einzelhandels in Polen." Osteuropa-Wirtschaft, 51 (1) pp. 17-29.
    36. van Houtum, H. (1999), "What is the Influence of Borders on Economic Internationalisation?" in de Gijsel, P., Janssen, M., Wenzel, H.-J., Woltering, M., eds., Understanding European CrossBorder Labour Markets. Marburg: Metropolis-Verlag, pp. 107-41.
    37. van Ommeren, J., Rietveld, P., Nijkamp, P. (1997), "Commuting: In Search of Jobs and Residences." Journal of Urban Economics, 42 (3), pp. 402-21. Go to original source...
    38. Zax, J. (1991), "Compensation for Commutes in Labor and Housing Markets." Journal of Urban Economics, 30 (2), pp. 192-207. Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content