Don't Stop Me Now: Cross-Border Commuting in the Aftermath of Schengen

Abstract

A Single European Labour Market has not been achieved yet, despite strong efforts in promoting cross-country labour mobility. In this paper, we assess the effectiveness of one of the most important policies implemented to reach this goal: the Schengen Agreement. Using data from the European Labour Force Survey, we show that the individual probability to become a cross-border commuter after the entrance of Switzerland in the Schengen area increased by 0.5 and 4 percentage points among labour force individuals and inter-regional commuters, respectively. We also show evidence of a substantial redirection of internal inter-regional commuters to Swiss regions.