In this paper, we analyze how the formal recognition of immigrants' foreign occupational qualifications affects their subsequent labor market outcomes. The empirical analysis is based on a novel German data set that links respondents' survey information to their administrative records, allowing us to observe immigrants at monthly intervals before, during and after their application for occupational recognition. Our findings show substantial employment and wage gains from occupational recognition. After three years, the full recognition of immigrants' foreign qualifications increases their employment rates by 24.5 percentage points and raises their hourly wages by 19.8 percent relative to immigrants without recognition. We show that the increase in employment is largely driven by a higher propensity to work in regulated occupations. Relating our findings to the economic assimilation of immigrants in Germany, we further document that occupational recognition leads to substantially faster convergence of immigrants' earnings to those of their native counterparts.

中文翻译：

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职业认同与移民劳动力市场成果

在本文中，我们分析了对移民的外国职业资格的正式认可如何影响他们随后的劳动力市场成果。实证分析基于一个新颖的德国数据集，该数据集将受访者的调查信息与他们的行政记录相关联，使我们能够在他们申请职业认可之前，之中和之后每月观察一次移民。我们的发现表明，职业认可可以带来可观的就业和工资增长。三年后，相对于未被承认的移民，移民的外国资格的完全认可将其就业率提高24.5个百分点，并将其每小时工资提高19.8％。我们表明，就业增长主要是受受管制职业中较高的工作倾向所驱动。