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Job Contact Networks and the Ethnic Minorities

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Abstract

Using data from the UK Quarterly Labour Force Survey, this paper examines the job finding methods of different ethnic groups in the UK. Our empirical findings suggest that, though personal networks are a popular method of finding a job for the ethnic minorities, the foreign born and those who identify themselves as non-British, they are not necessarily the most effective either in terms of gaining employment or in terms of the level of job achieved. However, there are some important differences across ethnic groups with some groups losing out disproportionately from using personal networks.

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  • Battu, Harminder & Seaman, Paul & Zenou, Yves Zenou, 2010. "Job Contact Networks and the Ethnic Minorities," Research Papers in Economics 2010:21, Stockholm University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2010_0021
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job search; networks; social capital; ethnic disadvantage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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