The Impact of Naturalizations on Job Mobility and Wages: Evidence from France

This paper studies the impact of naturalization on the labor market outcomes of foreign-born workers in France. Using a large panel dataset of workers employed in France over 1993-2001, I find that naturalization is associated with a sharp increase in job mobility: immigrants tend to change occupations and employers, in the same year as they naturalize. Turning to wages, I find evidence that naturalization commands a wage premium, which is associated with employment mobility. For workers initially in low-skill occupations, the wage premium is conditional on occupational mobility. For those in middle- or high-skilled occupations, there is also evidence of a wage premium, mostly for foreign women; this premium is associated with moves to a different firm. These results suggest that foreign citizenship constrains workers mobility, and are consistent with the hypothesis of a mismatch of foreign workers to their jobs