MIGRANTS AND THE BARGAINING PROCESS IN THE LABOR MARKET: APPLICATION OF ULTIMATUM GAME

Year 2023, Volume: 10 Issue: 1, 189 - 202, 02.01.2023

Serkan Dilek Rumeysa Yıldırım

Abstract

International migration movements continue to increase due to reasons such as income differences between countries, wars and turmoil, and political instability. Due to the internal turmoils in nations like Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, Turkey is one of the nations that receive the most immigrants. Immigrants are generally employed as cheap labor in the labor market of their country of origin. On the other hand, they may be subjected to negative behaviours by the people of the host country due to cultural differences. The aim of this study is to investigate the tendency to offer low wages to immigrants in Turkey. The existence of the perception that immigrants are willing to work for low wages in Turkey and negative attitudes towards immigrants in the labor market were investigated with the ultimatum game application on Kastamonu University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences students. As a result of the research, no statistically significant difference was found between the wage offer given to the worker candidate whose nationality is unknown and the wage offer given to the worker candidate who is known to be an immigrant. In addition, it was observed that the participants exhibited altruistic behaviors, and those who received offers (responders) with foreign nationality accepted the offers at a higher rate.

Keywords

Immigrants, Labor Market, Wage Negotiations, Racial Differences, Racial Prejudice, Altruism, Ultimatum Game

References

• Ahmed, A. M. (2007). Group Identity, Social Distance and Intergroup Bias. Journal of economic psychology, 28(3), 324-337.
• Akkaş, İ. ve Aksakal, İ. (2021). Afgan Göçmenlere Yönelik Tutum ve Algıların Sosyolojik Analizi: Erzincan Örneği. Sosyolojik Bağlam Dergisi, 2(3), 41-54. doi:10.52108/2757-5942.2.3.3
• Alakuş, E., & Uzan, Y. (2020). İnsan Ticaretine Konu Olma Potansiyeli Bakımından Türkiye’nin Afgan Düzensiz Göçmen Gerçeği. Göç Araştırmaları Dergisi, 6(1), 92-117.
• Arslan, İ., Bozgeyik, Y., & Alancioğlu, E. (2017). Göçün Ekonomik Ve Toplumsal Yansımaları: Gaziantep’teki Suriyeli Göçmenler Örneği/Socio-Economic Reflections of Migration: The Example of Syrian Immigrants in Gaziantep, İlahiyat Akademi, (4), 129-148.
• Bao, T., Liang, B., & Pei, J. (2022). Does ethnic diversity always undermine pro-social behavior? Evidence from a laboratory experiment. European Journal of Political Economy, 72, 102119.
• Bertrand, M., & Mullainathan, S. (2004). Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A field experiment on labor market discrimination. American economic review, 94(4), 991-1013.
• Bouckaert, J., & Dhaene, G. (2004). Inter-ethnic Trust and Reciprocity: Results of An Experiment With Small Businessmen. European Journal of Political Economy, 20(4), 869-886.
• Brownell, P. B. (2010). Wages Differences Between Temporary and Permanent Immigrants. International Migration Review, 44(3), 593-614.
• Boyacı, İ. & Sultan, T. (2016). Experimental evidence on dictator and ultimatum games from Turkish and Pakistani students. İstanbul Ticaret Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 29(15), 319-333.
• Chisadza, C., Nicholls, N., & Yitbarek, E. (2021). Group identity in fairness decisions: Discrimination or inequality aversion?. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 93, 101722.
• Das, G. G., Marjit, S., & Kar, M. (2020). The impact of immigration on skills, innovation and wages: Education matters more than where people come from. Journal of Policy Modeling, 42(3), 557-582.
• Daskalova, V. (2018). Discrimination, social identity, and coordination: An experiment. Games and Economic Behavior, 107, 238-252.
• Dedeoğlu, S. (2018). Tarımsal Üretimde Göçmen İşçiler: Yoksulluk Nöbetinden Yoksulların Rekabetine. Calisma ve Toplum, 56(1). 715-731
• Dilek, S., & Kesgingöz, H. (2018). Sharing is Beautiful: An Application of Ultimatum Game. Business & Management Studies: An International Journal, 6(4), 822-834.
• Dilek, S, Özdirek, R, Kesgingöz, H. (2019). Kayırmacılık Kavramının İslam Ekonomisi Bağlamında İncelenmesi. İnsan ve Toplum Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi, 8 (4), 3186-3210. Retrieved from http://www.itobiad.com/tr/issue/49747/618637
• Ebner, C., & Helbling, M. (2016). Social distance and wage inequalities for immigrants in Switzerland. Work, employment and society, 30(3), 436-454.
• Fansa, M. (2021). Kimim Ben? Göçmen, Sığınmacı, Mülteci, Yabancı, Vatansız ve Geçici Koruma: Türkiye’deki Suriyeliler. Antakiyat, 4(2), 289-306.
• Fershtman, C., & Gneezy, U. (2001). Discrimination in A Segmented Society: An Experimental Approach. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116(1), 351-377.
• Gligor, D., Newman, C., & Kashmiri, S. (2021). Does your skin color matter in buyer–seller negotiations? The implications of being a Black salesperson. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 49(5), 969-993.
• Hatipoğlu, Y. Z. (2021). Metodolojik Bireye Bir Eleştiri; Özgecilik Kavramı ve Ültimatom Oyunu Uygulaması. İnsan ve Toplum, 11(3), 139-177.
• Hernandez, M., Avery, D. R., Volpone, S. D., & Kaiser, C. R. (2019). Bargaining while Black: The role of race in salary negotiations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104(4), 581-592
• Ingwersen, K., & Thomsen, S. L. (2021). The immigrant-native wage gap in Germany revisited. The Journal of Economic Inequality, 19(4), 825-854.
• Kahveci, M. (2019). Misafirlikten İkinci Sınıf İşçiliğe: Türkiyeli ve Suriyeli İşçiler Arasında Ücret Ayrımcılığı. Bulletin of Economic Theory and Analysis, 4(2), 97-118
• Kesgin, B. (2022). Geçicilikten Kalıcılığa Suriyeli Göçmenler ve Uyum Sorunu. Anasay, (19), 29-49.
• Kırış, Ş., & Dilek, S. (2021). Müslüman Dindarlık Tipolojileri ile Diğerkâmlık Arası İlişkilerin İncelemesi: Ültimatom ve Diktatör Oyunu Uygulaması. İnsan ve Toplum Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi, 10(2), 1470-1492.
• Kimberly J.N. (2020). Gender Bias as the Norm in the Legal Profession: It's Still a [White] Man's Game, Wash. UJL & Pol'y, 62, 25-50
• Kocadaş, B. (2018). Suriyeli Sığınmacılar ve Çalışma Hayatı: Sorunlar, Tespitler ve Öneriler. Sosyolojik Düşün, 3(1-2), 1-13.
• Lin, K. H., & Weiss, I. (2019). Immigration and the wage distribution in the United States. Demography, 56(6), 2229-2252.
• McCall, L. (2001). Sources of Racial Wage Inequality in Metropolitan Labor Markets: Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Differences. American Sociological Review, 520-541.
• MacDonald, A. W., & Hasmath, R. (2019). Outsider ethnic minorities and wage determination in China. International Labour Review, 158(3), 489-508.
• McKee, K. (2020). Can A Higher Minimum Wage Rate Help Close The Persistent Racial Wage And Earnings Gaps?. The Public Purpose Journal. XVII, 17-35.
• Mülteciler (2022). https://multeciler.org.tr/turkiyedeki-suriyeli-sayisi/
• Oreopoulos, P. (2011). Why do skilled immigrants struggle in the labor market? A field experiment with thirteen thousand resumes. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 3(4), 148-71.
• Pager, D., Bonikowski, B., & Western, B. (2009). Discrimination in a low-wage labor market: A field experiment. American sociological review, 74(5), 777-799.
• Peyton, K., & Huber, G. A. (2018). Do survey measures of racial prejudice predict racial discrimination? experimental evidence on anti-black discrimination. SocArXiv. Published online April, 18.
• Tetik, M., & Tetik, G. (2021). Ultimatum Game Bargaining Behaviour: A Classroom Experiment. Studies in Microeconomics, 23210222211024432, June, 1-17.
• Tomaskovic-Devey, D., Hällsten, M., & Avent-Holt, D. (2015). Where do immigrants fare worse? Modeling workplace wage gap variation with longitudinal employer-employee data. American Journal of Sociology, 120(4), 1095-1143.
• Yeni Şafak (2022). https://www.yenisafak.com/gundem/multecilere-ev-sahipligi-yapan-ulkeler-siralamasi-degisti-polonya-pakistani-gecti-3769547. (14.03.2022).
• Waters, M. C., & Eschbach, K. (1995). Immigration and ethnic and racial inequality in the United States. Annual review of sociology, 419-446.