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Can education bridge the gap? Education and the employment position of immigrants in Belgium

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  • Vincent Corluy
  • Gerlinde Verbist

Abstract

The employment rates of non-EU immigrants compared to natives in Belgium continue to be low. In this chapter we examine whether differences in educational attainments offer an adequate explanation for these persisting labour market disadvantages. We decompose the gap in labour market outcomes between immigrants and natives, using the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method. The decomposition shows that for EU born immigrants three quarters of the gap can be attributed to differences in the observed, socio-economic characteristics between the two populations. For non-EU born immigrants, the differences in observed characteristics with natives can account for around one third of the gap. Although the explanatory power of our model remains limited for this group, substantial increases in the effect of observed characteristics are found over the last fifteen years. A detailed decomposition shows that lower educational levels, larger families and diverse regional settlement can, at least partly, explain the lower labour market attachment of non-EU born immigrants. Over the period in focus, the impact of differences in educational level between immigrants and natives has significantly grown, indicating a declining socio-economic profile of more recent immigrants as compared with natives.

Suggested Citation

  • Vincent Corluy & Gerlinde Verbist, 2014. "Can education bridge the gap? Education and the employment position of immigrants in Belgium," ImPRovE Working Papers 14/02, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    • Handle: RePEc:hdl:improv:1402
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    Cited by:

    1. Lens Dries & Marx Ive & Vujić Sunčica, 2019. "Double Jeopardy: How Refugees Fare in One European Labor Market," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-29, June.
    2. Stefan Jestl & Michael Landesmann & Sebastian Leitner & Barbara Wanek-Zajic, 2022. "Trajectories of Employment Gaps of Refugees and Other Migrants: Evidence from Austria," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(2), pages 609-669, April.
    3. Stefan Jestl & Michael Landesmann & Sebastian Leitner & Barbara Wanek-Zajic, 2019. "Employment Gaps Between Refugees, Migrants and Natives: Evidence from Austrian Register Based Labour Market Data," wiiw Working Papers 167, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    4. Céline Piton & François Rycx, 2021. "A Broken Social Elevator? Employment Outcomes of First- and Second-Generation Immigrants in Belgium," De Economist, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 319-365, August.
    5. Dries Lens & Ive Marx & Sunčica Vujić, 2017. "Integrating (former) asylum seekers into the Belgian labour market. What can we learn from the recent past?," Working Papers 1710, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    6. Lens, Dries & Marx, Ive & Vujic, Suncica, 2018. "Is Quick Formal Access to the Labor Market Enough? Refugees' Labor Market Integration in Belgium," IZA Discussion Papers 11905, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Julie Vinck & Wim Van Lancker, 2020. "An Intersectional Approach towards Parental Employment in Families with a Child with a Disability: The Case of Belgium," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(2), pages 228-261, April.
    8. Céline Piton, 2022. "The labour market performance of vulnerable groups: towards a better understanding of the main driving forces," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/352519, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. K. Burggraeve & C. Piton, 2016. "The economic consequences of the flow of refugees into Belgium," Economic Review, National Bank of Belgium, issue i, pages 43-61, June.
    10. Céline Piton & François Rycx, 2020. "The Heterogeneous Employment Outcomes of First- and Second-generation Immigrants in Belgium," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2020007, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    11. Lens, Dries & Marx, Ive & Vujic, Suncica, 2018. "Does Migration Motive Matter for Migrants' Employment Outcomes? The Case of Belgium," IZA Discussion Papers 11906, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Employment rate gap; education; immigrants; Belgium;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

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