Evaluation of labour market integration of foreign-born population in Turkey: A cohort analysis

This thesis examines foreign-born people's integration into the labour market of Turkey. With this aim, it tests the Immigrant Assimilation Hypothesis validation in Turkey. The main research question is, "Are immigrants in Turkey able to grow their labour market outcomes more rapid than natives?". Therefore, identifying the take-over point and the wage gap are related goals of this thesis. Another critical research question is, "Is assimilation ratio differentiated among immigrant cohorts by migration year?". In short, this study also analyses cohort effects on immigrants' labour market assimilation. For this purpose, Household Labour Force Surveys conducted by TurkStat are used between 2009-2020. Firstly, immigrants' assimilation is assessed by graphs in the descriptive analysis part. Then, regressions analyses are utilised to evaluate the differences in labour force participation and employment statuses for immigrants and natives by using the logistic regression method. Finally, it estimated regression models by using the ordinary least squares method to analyse the wage gap for immigrants and natives. The main results of the cross-sectional approach are that immigrants' earnings are equalised in 20-25 years after migration, which is also the take-over point, against natives. The wage gap for newly entered immigrants is equal to 20 per cent by this analysis. According to pooled cross-sectional studies, the recent cohort that arrived between 2012-2020 earns 30 per cent lower than natives. On the contrary, the best-earning cohort that arrived between 1980-1989 is 14 per cent higher than natives. In other words, the wage gap also differs among immigrant cohorts. Besides, earlier cohorts are more advantageous in terms of labour force participation and employment statuses. Consequently, the labour market integration of immigrants occurs with spending years in Turkey, and also cohort effect differentiates the economic integration of immigrants.