THE INFLUENCE OF MIGRATIONS ON THE EURPEAN LABOUR MARKET

Obrazac kretanja međunarodnih migranata znatno se promijenio u posljednjih nekoliko desetljeća. Europa je postala glavno odredište svjetskih migranata što čini pitanje utjecaja migracija na europsko tržište rada sve aktualnijom temom. S druge strane, ako se u obzir uzmu procesi demografskog starenja i usporenog ekonomskog rasta, priljev imigranata pokazao se načinom usporavanja navedenih trendova. Ovaj rad istražuje utjecaj šokova ponude na tržište rada koje uzrokuju migracije. Glavni je cilj ustanoviti na koji način porast broja imigranata utječe na glavne ishode tržišta rada, poput razine i stopa zaposlenosti i nezaposlenosti, stope participacije radne snage te godišnje zarade. U okviru istraživanja provedena je empirijska (cross-section) analiza za 32 europske zemlje u razdoblju od 1998. do 2008. godine. Dobiveni rezultati izrazito su nesignifikantni, što se pripisuje heterogenosti europskih tržišta rada te nije moguće jednoznačno interpretirati utjecaj imigracije na tržište rada. Kako bi se ovaj problem riješio, uvedena je nova varijabla, jedinični trošak rada. U tom slučaju regresijska procjena upućuje na slab i negativan utjecaj imigranata na konkurentnost europskih zemalja.The patterns in international migrants’ movement changed substantially in the last few decades. Europe has become the main destination for world migrants, thereby making the analysis of the impact of migration on labour markets in Europe a crucial issue in this field. However, taking into account both the trend of aging population and slow economic growth in Europe, the influx of immigrants appeared to have a slowing down effect on these trends. The paper investigates labour market effects of migration-related supply shocks on labour market. The main objective was to determine the effects of the increase in the number of immigrants on labour market outcomes, such as level and rates of employment and unemployment, labour force participation rates and annual earnings. The empirical analysis (cross-section analysis) was conducted on 32 European countries for the period from the year 1998 to 2008. The obtained results are not significant, which can be attributed to the heterogeneity of European labour markets. Therefore it is not possible to unambiguously interpret the impact of immigration on the labour market. In order to improve the model, a new variable that eliminates heterogeneity issue and allows comparison was introduced - the unit labour cost. The results of the amended model showed that the impact of immigrants on the competitiveness of European countries is weak and negative