Immigration, diversity and the labour market outcomes of native workers: some recent developments

This brief essay provides a selective discussion of how in recent years economists in the neoclassical tradition have addressed the questions whether and how immigration affects native workers’ labour market outcomes. In particular, it discusses: the distinction between the displacement, productivity and amenity effects of immigration; the issues that arise in using wage changes to identify those effects; and the problem of assessing a causal link from immigration to natives’ labour market outcomes.