Migration and Earnings in Romania

AbstractThis article investigates the determinants of Romanian average earnings by estimating several panel data econometric models at national and regional level. The earnings are regressed against a number of socio-economic variables that include the unemployment rate, the labour productivity, the number of immigrants, the number of emigrants and the number of graduates from tertiary education and from post-secondary education. The results obtained show that productivity, higher education and immigrants positively influence Romanian earnings and that the unemployment rate lowers the earnings. Also, different patterns are observed across the macro-regions, the comparative analysis of the results enabling us to identify the characteristics of each Romanian macro-region