Remittances and the Labor Supply Choices of Recipient Households: Insights From Meta‐Regression Analysis

This meta‐analysis investigates the impact of remittances on labor supply decisions in recipient households. Using 1811 estimates from 64 studies, we find that international remittances reduce labor force participation by 4.4 percentage points while domestic remittances reduce it by 2.2 percentage points. The decline in labor force participation is stronger in South Asia (−5.6 percentage points) than in other regions. In contrast, conditional on remaining in the labor force, the effect on hours worked is negligible. Although remittances lower participation across most employment types, they have no significant effect on the self‐employed. These findings highlight the complex economic implications of remittances, emphasizing the need for policies that foster labor market engagement and entrepreneurship. We also outline key directions for future research on this topic.