Perfect for the Job? Overqualification of Immigrants and their Descendants in the Norwegian Labor Market (original) (raw)
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2007
This study examines employment access, class attainment, and earnings among native-born and first-generation immigrants in Denmark using Danish administrative data from 2002. Results suggest large gaps in employment access between native-born Danes and immigrants, as well as among immigrant groups by country of origin and time of arrival. Non-Western immigrants and those arriving after 1984 are at a particular disadvantage compared to other immigrants, a finding not explained by education differences. Immigrants are more likely to be employed in unskilled manual jobs and less likely to be employed in professional and intermediate-level positions than native-born Danes, although the likelihood of obtaining higher-level positions increases as immigrants' time in Denmark lengthens. Class attainment and accumulated work experience explain a significant portion of native-immigrant gaps in earnings, but work experience reduces native-immigrant gaps in class attainment for lower-level positions only. The Danish "flexicurity" model and its implications for immigrants living in Denmark are discussed.
Effects of Gender and Origin on Overqualification in the Swedish Labor Market
2012
This study examines the extent and determinants of overqualification in Sweden, with emphasis on the effects of gender and national origin. Based on longitudinal register data for individuals employed in 2003 and 2007, we test the role of country-specific human capital in explaining overqualification. Using binary logistic regression techniques we find that individuals born outside of Sweden have much higher risk of overqualification, especially those from Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, controlling for human capital differences. We find a higher risk of overqualification for women within both native- and foreign-born groups, but also a higher probability of improving job match over the period 2003 to 2007. However, there is no increased probability of improving job match among non-Western immigrants, indicating that their disadvantaged position in the Swedish labor market improves little over the period studied.
Immigrants in Denmark: Access to Employment, Class Attainment and Earnings in a High-Skilled Economy
International Migration, 2011
This study examines employment access, class attainment, and earnings among native-born and first-generation immigrants in Denmark using Danish administrative data from 2002. Results suggest large gaps in employment access between native-born Danes and immigrants, as well as among immigrant groups by country of origin and time of arrival. Non-Western immigrants and those arriving after 1984 are at a particular disadvantage compared to other immigrants, a finding not explained by education differences. Immigrants are more likely to be employed in unskilled manual jobs and less likely to be employed in professional and intermediate-level positions than native-born Danes, although the likelihood of obtaining higher-level positions increases as immigrants' time in Denmark lengthens. Class attainment and accumulated work experience explain a significant portion of native-immigrant gaps in earnings, but work experience reduces native-immigrant gaps in class attainment for lower-level positions only. The Danish "flexicurity" model and its implications for immigrants living in Denmark are discussed.
Unequal Opportunities for Young People with Immigrant Backgrounds in the Swedish Labour Market
This paper investigates labour-market performance for 'young people with immigrant backgrounds' and those 'born in Sweden with native-born parents' in the Swedish labour market. It focuses on young people who were aged 18-20 during 1990, and their labour-market status after 8 years, in 1998. The results indicate that young people of immigrant descent have lower annual wage income and are at higher risk of not being employed than those born in Sweden with nativeborn parents. Differences in human capital characteristics cannot explain these results. Other theories, which stress the effect of discriminatory behaviour and the power of social network composition, are discussed as alternative interpretations. Having one native-born parent is considered to be important to labour market success. However, having a native-born father rather than a native-born mother is associated with better labour-market achievement.
The Times They Are A-Changin': Declining Immigrant Employment Opportunities in Scandinavia1
International Migration Review, 2006
This article compares and contrasts male immigrant labor market experiences in Sweden and Denmark during the period 1985–1995. Using register-based panel data sets from Sweden and Denmark, a picture of the employment assimilation process of immigrants from Norway, Poland, and Turkey is presented. The comparative approach shows that immigrants in Sweden and Denmark experienced similar declines in employment prospects between 1985 and 1995 despite quite different developments of aggregate labor market conditions. A possible explanation is that the changing organizational structure – toward more flexible work organization – has resulted in a decrease in the attractiveness of immigrant employees due to the increasing importance of country-specific skills and informal human capital.
The Rise and Fall of Immigrant Employment : A Lifecycle Study of Labor Migrants to Norway
2006
We find that the lifecycle employment profiles of nonwestern male labor migrants that came to Norway in the early 1970s diverge significantly from those of native comparison persons. During the first years after arrival almost all of the immigrants worked and their employment rate exceeded that of natives. But, about ten years upon arrival, immigrant employment started a sharp and steady decline. By 2000, the immigrant employment rate was 50 percent, compared to 87 percent for the native comparison group. That year, as many as 74 percent of the non-employed immigrants received a permanent disability pension and an additional 16 percent received another form of social security transfer. We identify considerable disincentives embedded in the social security system that may be responsible for the poor lifecycle employment performance of the immigrant cohort. But we also uncover evidence that labor immigrants are particularly vulnerable to the state of the economy and face a high probab...
Sustainability, 2021
In a globalised world with an increasing division of labour, the competition for highly skilled individuals—regardless of their origin—is growing, as is the value of such individuals for national economies. Yet the majority of studies analysing the economic integration of immigrants shows that those who are highly skilled also have substantial hurdles to overcome: their employment rates and salaries are lower and they face a higher education-to-occupation mismatch compared to highly skilled natives. This paper contributes to the paucity of studies on the employment patterns of highly skilled immigrants to Sweden by providing an overview of the socio-demographic characteristics, labour-market participation and occupational mobility of highly educated migrants in Sweden. Based on a statistical analysis of register data, we compare their employment rates, salaries and occupational skill level and mobility to those of immigrants with lower education and with natives. The descriptive ana...
Catching Up: The Labor Market Outcomes of New Immigrants in Sweden
2014
The considerable diversity among Sweden's immigrants reflects a humanitarian migration policy. Refugees have arrived in the country since the 1970s and 1980s, with their countries of origin shifting according to the ethnic and political conflicts of any given period. Sweden is also a longstanding magnet for labor migration from surrounding Scandinavia, and has attracted mobile EU citizens since its entry into the European Union in 1995 -- and especially following the EU enlargements of 2004 and 2007. Sweden's immigration flows continue to change today, as policy reforms in 2008 allowed employers to bring non-EU labor migrants to the country for the first time in decades. This report assesses how new immigrants to Sweden fare in the country's labor market. The report is part of a series of six case studies on labor market outcomes among immigrants to European Union countries.The report shows that employment rates during newcomers' initial years in Sweden are relativel...