Resource information
The contribution of return migrants to
economic development in source countries can be significant.
Overseas savings of returnees may lead to improvements in
household welfare and provide liquidity for investments in
the face of credit market failures. Labor market experience
and skills acquired abroad may also lead migrants to find
occupations higher in the skill and remuneration spectrum
upon return. This study uses the 2005 Albanian Living
Standards Measurement Study Survey and estimates the impact
of international migration experience on the occupational
mobility of return migrants vis a vis working-age Albanian
residents that never migrated. Controlling for the
non-random nature of international migration and return, the
results show that past migration experience increases the
likelihood of upward occupational mobility. Exploring the
heterogeneity of impact by host country indicates that the
positive effect of past migration experience on upward
occupational mobility is driven by past migration experience
in Italy and countries further a field, while past migration
experience in Greece does not exert any significant impact
on mobility outcomes. The results, which are consistent
across different sample specifications and outcome variables
measuring occupational mobility, hint at the link between
migration and human/financial capital formation among
migrants and foster optimism concerning the positive effect
of return migration on economic development. This insight is
particularly important since remittances from permanent
migrants, which have fueled the impressive growth
performance of the country in the recent era, may taper off
in the medium to long term with the decline in out-migration
and growing global economic woes.
