Abstract We investigate the wage assimilation of East Germans who migrated to West Germany after reunification (1990–99). We compare their wage assimilation to that of ethnic German immigrants from Eastern Bloc countries and international immigrants to West Germany who arrived at the same time. The analysis uses administrative as well as survey data. The results suggest that East Germans faced significant initial earnings disadvantages in West Germany, even conditional on age and education. However, these disadvantages were smaller than those of international immigrants, supporting the beneficial role of cultural similarity. The earnings gap relative to West German natives narrowed over time for all immigrants. These findings are robust to controlling for potentially endogenous return migration and labor force participation. Controls for fixed effects reveal that positive assimilation for East German and international immigrants was concentrated among highly educated immigrants.

Regina T. Riphahn

Irakli Sauer

Labour

LABOUR provides a forum for analysis and debate on issues concerning labour economics and industrial relations. The Journal publishes high quality contributions which combine economic theory and statistical methodology in order to analyse behaviour, institutions and policies relevant to the labour market.

The journal Labour provides a forum for the analysis and discussion of issues related to labour economics and industrial relations. It publishes high-quality contributions that integrate economic theory and statistical methodology to analyze behaviors, institutions, and policies relevant to the labor market.

《Labour》期刊提供了一个分析和讨论劳动经济学及工业关系相关问题的论坛。该期刊发表高质量的研究成果，结合经济理论和统计方法，以分析与劳动市场相关的行为、机构和政策。

Earnings assimilation of post‐reunification East German migrants in West Germany

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Journal Info

Category	Quartile
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS & LABOR	4