Essays on the economics of migration and labour: Empirical evidence from the UK

This thesis covers the analysis of current UK economic issues relating to immigration and the labour market. In particular, since the late 1990s, the UK has experienced increasing immigration inflows significantly affecting both the economy and society as a whole. In parallel, over the last two decades the country has undergone other substantial changes in the structure of the labour market, primarily due to an intrinsic rapid educational upgrading and the pervasive effect of technological change. Chapter 1 studies immigrant assimilation by comparing the life satisfaction of immigrants across different generations against that of their native peers. Chapter 2 develops and empircally tests a model to explain the channels through which heterogeneous firms may adjust their product and process innovation activities in response to local labour supply shocks such as immigration inflows. Chapter 3 estimates the causal effect of technological exposure on UK local labour markets while providing suggestive evidence on the role of changes in the composition of the labour force.