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Labour Market Assimilation and Over Education: The Case of Immigrant Workers in Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Carlo Dell'Aringa

    (DISCE, Università Cattolica)

  • Laura Pagani

    (Università Milano Bicocca)

Abstract

In this paper we study the assimilation of immigrants into the Italian labour market using over-education as an indicator of labour market performance. The main objective is to assess the extent to which work experience in the host country’s labour market favours the international transferability of immigrants’ human capital. Using data from the Istat Labour Force Survey for the years 2005-2007, we find that foreigners are much more likely to be over-educated than natives upon their arrival in Italy and that work experience gained in the country of origin is not valued in the Italian labour market. Moreover, we find that not even experience acquired in Italy is helpful in improving immigrants’ educational job matches, suggesting that catch-up by foreigners seems unachievable, even after they adapt their skills to the host country labour market.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlo Dell'Aringa & Laura Pagani, 2010. "Labour Market Assimilation and Over Education: The Case of Immigrant Workers in Italy," DISCE - Quaderni dell'Istituto di Economia dell'Impresa e del Lavoro ieil0058, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    • Handle: RePEc:ctc:serie4:ieil0058
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    Cited by:

    1. Davide Bellucci & Pierluigi Conzo & Roberto Zotti, 2019. "Perceived Immigration and Voting Behavior," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 588, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    2. Del Boca, Daniela & Venturini, Alessandra, 2014. "Migration in Italy is Backing the Old Age Welfare," IZA Discussion Papers 8328, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Barbara Ermini & Luca Papi & Francesca Scaturro, 2017. "An Analysis of the Determinants of Over-Education Among Italian Ph.D Graduates," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 3(2), pages 167-207, July.
    4. Elisa Barbiano di Belgiojoso & Livia Elisa Ortensi, 2013. "Should I stay or should I go? The case of Italy," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 67(3-4), pages 31-38, July-Dece.
    5. Barone, Guglielmo & D'Ignazio, Alessio & de Blasio, Guido & Naticchioni, Paolo, 2016. "Mr. Rossi, Mr. Hu and politics. The role of immigration in shaping natives' voting behavior," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 1-13.
    6. Barbara Ermini & Luca Papi & Francesca Scaturro, 2016. "Over-education among italian Ph.D. graduates. Does the crisis make a difference?," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 126, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    7. Jacques Poot & Steven Stillman, 2010. "The importance of heterogeneity when examining immigrant education-occupation mismatch: evidence from New Zealand," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1023, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    8. Sholeh A. Maani & Le Wen, 2021. "Over-education and immigrant earnings: a penalized quantile panel regression analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(24), pages 2771-2790, May.
    9. Gabriella Berloffa & Francesca Paolini, 2019. "Decomposing Immigrant Differences in Physical and Mental Health: A 'Beyond the Mean' Analysis," DEM Working Papers 2019/4, Department of Economics and Management.
    10. Marchetti, Sabrina & Piazzalunga, Daniela & Venturini, Alessandra, 2013. "Costs and Benefits of Labour Mobility between the EU and the Eastern Partnership Countries Country Study: Italy," IZA Discussion Papers 7635, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Schwientek, Caroline, 2016. "Are immigrants overeducated in Germany? Determinants and wage effects of educational mismatch," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 07/2016, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    12. Ulceluse, Magdalena, 2020. "Self-employment as a stepping stone to better labor market matching: a comparison between immigrants and natives," Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 86(4), pages 479-501, December.
    13. Sabrina Marchetti & Daniela Piazzalunga & Alessandra Venturini, 2014. "Does Italy represent an opportunity for temporary migrants from the eastern partnership countries?," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, December.
    14. Jacobs, Valentine & Mahy, Benoît & Rycx, François & Volral, Mélanie, 2019. "The Heterogeneous Effects of Workers' Countries of Birth on Over-Education," IZA Discussion Papers 12705, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Nieto, Sandra & Matano, Alessia & Ramos, Raul, 2013. "Skill Mismatches in the EU: Immigrants vs. Natives," IZA Discussion Papers 7701, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Rama Dasi Mariani & Alessandra Pasquini & Furio Camillo Rosati, 2023. "The Immigration Puzzle in Italy: A Survey of Evidence and Facts," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 9(1), pages 85-116, March.
    17. Gabriella Berloffa & Francesca Paolini, 2022. "Going "beyond the mean" in analysing immigrant health disparities," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 47(7), pages 161-198.
    18. Strom, Steinar & Venturini, Alessandra & Villosio, Claudia, 2013. "Wage Assimilation: Migrants versus Natives and Foreign Migrants versus Internal Migrants," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201341, University of Turin.
    19. Rama Dasi Mariani & Alessandra Pasquini & Furio Camillo Rosati, 2020. "Elementary Facts About Immigration in Italy. What Do We Know About Immigration and Its Impact," CEIS Research Paper 488, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 28 May 2020.
    20. Jacques Poot & Steven Stillman, 2016. "Skill composition of immigration flows and the measurement of education-occupation mismatch," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-28, December.
    21. Barone, Guglielmo & D'Ignazio, Alessio & de Blasio, Guido & Naticchioni, Paolo, 2014. "Mr. Rossi, Mr. Hu and Politics: The Role of Immigration in Shaping Natives' Political Preferences," IZA Discussion Papers 8228, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    22. Esteve Sanromá & Raúl Ramos & Hipólito Simón, 2015. "Portability of Human Capital and Immigrant Overeducation in Spain," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 34(2), pages 223-241, April.
    23. Daniela Boca & Alessandra Venturini, 2016. "Migration in Italy Is Backing the Old Age Welfare," Springer Books, in: Martin Kahanec & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), Labor Migration, EU Enlargement, and the Great Recession, pages 59-83, Springer.
    24. Julia Beckhusen & Raymond J.G.M. Florax & Jacques Poot & Brigitte S. Waldorf, 2013. "Attracting Global Talent And Then What? Overeducated Immigrants In The United States," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 834-854, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Assimilation; Over education;

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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