Elisabetta Lodigiani (University of Padua)
Emanuele Forlani and Luca Nunziata
Using detailed employeremployee data from the Italian Institute of Social Security (INPS) for the years 20132019, we study how changes in the local supply of migrant workers affect the tasks performed by Italian workers. We measure how routine different jobs are across 796 five-digit ISCO occupational groups using newly data from the InappIstat Survey on Italian Occupations (ICP), an O*NET-type dataset. Exploiting differences across local labor markets, we show that a higher share of migrant leads native workers to adjust their occupations. Less-educated natives tend to move into less routine jobs, and workers at all education levels reduce the time they spend on manual tasks. These patterns are similar for men and women. The effects are stronger among workers who switch employers within their local labor market and are mainly found in more productive firms, which seem better able to benefit from the presence of migrants. The econometric results are robust to several checks and alternative specifications.