THE DEVELOPMENT IMPACT OF A BEST PRACTICE SEASONAL WORKER POLICY

Seasonal migration programs are widely used around the world, yet there is little evidence as to their development impacts. A multiyear prospective evaluation of New Zealand's Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) seasonal worker program allows us to measure the impact of participating in this pro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The review of economics and statistics 2014-05, Vol.96 (2), p.229-243
Main Authors: Gibson, John, McKenzie, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asset income
Bank accounts
Best practice
Economic analysis
Economic theory
Employee recruitment
Foreign labor
household welfare
Households
Immigration policy
Impact analysis
International migration
Labor
Labor economics
New Zealand
Quality control
Schooling
Seasonal labor
seasonal migration
seasonal workers
Social policy
Standard of living
Studies
Villages
Wellbeing
World Bank
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Summary:Seasonal migration programs are widely used around the world, yet there is little evidence as to their development impacts. A multiyear prospective evaluation of New Zealand's Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) seasonal worker program allows us to measure the impact of participating in this program on households in Tonga and Vanuatu. Using a propensity-score prescreened difference-in-differences analysis based on surveys fielded before, during, and after participation, we find that the RSE has indeed had positive development impacts that dwarf those of other popular development interventions. It has increased income, consumption, and savings of households; durable goods ownership; and subjective standard of living. The results also suggest that child schooling improved in Tonga.
ISSN:0034-6535
1530-9142
DOI:10.1162/rest_a_00383