8 The module provides detailed information on migration histories of all current and former household members, as well as information on the household migration networks abroad. Lastly, the survey supplies community-level data, which include information on prices, access to services and infrastructure in the locality.

Our sample of interest is 9,565 individuals in the working age category of [15-64] in 2005, excluding return migrants that have been in Albania less than 12 months.<sup>5</sup> The ALSMS05 collected data on _initial_ and _2005_ employment outcomes according to the three digit codes from the 1988 International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO). The three digit codes can be classified under 10 major occupational groups<sup>6</sup> , which can be collapsed into 5 distinct categories. These categories are namely (i) agricultural (major group 6), (ii) low-skilled blue collar (major groups 8 and 9), (iii) high-skilled blue collar (major group 7), (iv) low-skilled white collar (major groups 4 and 5), and (v) high-skilled white collar (major groups 1, 2 and 3) occupations.<sup>7</sup> Although agricultural occupations are traditionally included as part of the high skilled blue collar category under the ISCO definition, we found it appropriate to create a unique category for them, as agriculture still remains the principal source of employment in Albania.

# _3.1. Occupational Ranking_

As our objective is to test the hypothesis of upward occupational mobility that is induced by past migration experience, it is essential to first rank occupational groups in a reasonable and systematic manner. Following Sicherman and Galor (1990), we rank occupational groups according to the average level of human capital necessary to be employed in each of them. The

> 5 In our sample, there were initially 1313 individuals with past migration experience. Table A1 in the appendix provides the distribution of return migrants by the year of return from the last migration episode indicates that close to 40 percent returned to Albania in 2004 and 2005. Since our objective is to assess the impact of international migration on labor mobility of return migrants _vis a vis_ those individuals that never migrated, we need to be confident that the sample includes return migrants that are likely to have returned to Albania permanently. In Table A2, classifying return migrants into two groups; those that have returned to Albania within the last year, and those that have been in Albania for at least a year, and computing descriptive statistics across these two groups yield considerable differences in observable characteristics, particularly in terms of present day employment and wealth outcomes, circumstances associated with the latest migration episode, and intentions to migrate in the future. To make sure that our sample captures “real” returnees, we exclude from our analysis the return migrants that have been in Albania less than a year. Enforcing this restriction as well as the requirement of being between 16 and 64 years of age in 2005 limits the return migrant sample to 853 individuals.

> 6 10 major occupational groups are namely (1) legislators, senior officials, and managers, (2) professionals, (3) technicians and associate professionals, (4) clerks, (5) service workers, and shop and market sales workers, (6) skilled agricultural and fishery workers, (7) craft and related trades workers, (8) plant and machine operators and assemblers, (9) elementary occupations, and (10) armed forces.

> 7 Following the common practice, we exclude the individuals in armed forces from analysis.