Returns to Returning with Sibling Comparisons: Register-Based Evidence from Finland

How experience of migration affects the labor market outcome after remigration is difficult to examine because both migration and remigration processes are driven by various mechanisms of selection. In this study, we investigate the labor market outcomes of return migration in Finland in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. With Finnish register data covering the period 1987–2019, we use a counterfactual sibling fixed-effects design that compares the return migrants to their siblings of the same sex who have not migrated, and controls for the influence of family background and pre-adolescent experience. We show that, compared to their same-sex siblings who have no migration experience, return migrants have slightly lower employment rates, particularly men, for whom the gap does not recover over time. Return migrants are overrepresented at both the lower and the upper ends of the income distribution and enjoy substantial income advantages at the higher end. We argue that the labor market disadvantages of return migrants to Finland is likely due to the disruption of social networks during the years spent abroad. However, the disadvantage can be overcome over time and with reintegration to the Finnish labor market.