IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/glodps/485.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Broken Social Elevator? Employment Outcomes of First- and Second-generation Immigrants in Belgium

Author

Listed:
  • Piton, Céline
  • Rycx, François

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive quantitative assessment of the employment performance of first- and second-generation immigrants in Belgium compared to that of natives. Using detailed quarterly data for the period 2008-2014, we find not only that first-generation immigrants face a substantial employment penalty (up to -36% points) vis-à-vis their native counterparts, but also that their descendants continue to face serious difficulties in accessing the labour market. The social elevator appears to be broken for descendants of two non-EU-born immigrants. Immigrant women are also found to be particularly affected. Among the key drivers of access to employment, we find: i) education for the descendants of non-EU-born immigrants, and ii) proficiency in the host country language, citizenship acquisition, and (to a lesser extent) duration of residence for first-generation immigrants. Finally, estimates suggest that around a decade is needed for the employment gap between refugees and other foreign-born workers to be (largely) suppressed.

Suggested Citation

  • Piton, Céline & Rycx, François, 2020. "A Broken Social Elevator? Employment Outcomes of First- and Second-generation Immigrants in Belgium," GLO Discussion Paper Series 485, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:485
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/214654/1/GLO-DP-0485.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Baert, Stijn & Cockx, Bart, 2013. "Pure ethnic gaps in educational attainment and school to work transitions: When do they arise?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 276-294.
    2. Dominique Meurs & Emmanuel Valat, 2019. "A better job thanks to personal networks? An evaluation for migrants who arrived in France before age 18," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(47), pages 5144-5159, October.
    3. Stijn Baert & Bart Cockx & Niels Gheyle & Cora Vandamme, 2015. "Is There Less Discrimination in Occupations Where Recruitment Is Difficult?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 68(3), pages 467-500, May.
    4. Baert, Stijn & Vujić, Sunčica, 2016. "Immigrant volunteering: A way out of labour market discrimination?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 95-98.
    5. David Card, 2005. "Is the New Immigration Really so Bad?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(507), pages 300-323, November.
    6. Christian Dustmann & Francesca Fabbri, 2003. "Language proficiency and labour market performance of immigrants in the UK," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(489), pages 695-717, July.
    7. Thomas Liebig & Sarah Widmaier, 2009. "Children of Immigrants in the Labour Markets of EU and OECD Countries: An Overview," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 97, OECD Publishing.
    8. Hoyt Bleakley & Aimee Chin, 2004. "Language Skills and Earnings: Evidence from Childhood Immigrants," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(2), pages 481-496, May.
    9. Kalena E. Cortes, 2004. "Are Refugees Different from Economic Immigrants? Some Empirical Evidence on the Heterogeneity of Immigrant Groups in the United States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(2), pages 465-480, May.
    10. Christian Dustmann & Tommaso Frattini & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos, 2010. "Ethnicity and Second Generation Immigrants in Britain," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1004, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    11. Pieter Bevelander, 2020. "Integrating refugees into labor markets," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 269-269, September.
    12. Álvaro Pina & Vincent Corluy & Gerlinde Verbist, 2015. "Improving the Labour Market Integration of Immigrants in Belgium," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1195, OECD Publishing.
    13. Yann Algan & Christian Dustmann & Albrecht Glitz & Alan Manning, 2010. "The Economic Situation of First and Second-Generation Immigrants in France, Germany and the United Kingdom," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(542), pages 4-30, February.
    14. Zschirnt, Eva & Ruedin, Didier, 2016. "Ethnic discrimination in hiring decisions: A meta-analysis of correspondence tests 1990–2015," EconStor Preprints 142176, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    15. Stijn Baert & Frank W. Heiland & Sanders Korenman, 2016. "Native-Immigrant Gaps in Educational and School-to-Work Transitions in the 2nd Generation: The Role of Gender and Ethnicity," De Economist, Springer, vol. 164(2), pages 159-186, June.
    16. Chiswick, Barry R. & Miller, Paul W., 2014. "International Migration and the Economics of Language," IZA Discussion Papers 7880, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/536kq4edtr82jqovubq3ttobc5 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Denis Fougère & Mirna Safi, 2009. "Naturalization and employment of immigrants in France (1968‐1999)," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(1/2), pages 83-96, March.
    19. Zorlu, Aslan & van Gent, Wouter, 2020. "Economic Assimilation of the 'Third Generation': An Intergenerational Mobility Perspective on Immigration and Integration," IZA Discussion Papers 13855, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Yaël Brinbaum, 2018. "Incorporation of Immigrants and Second Generations into the French Labour Market: Changes between Generations and the Role of Human Capital and Origins," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(3), pages 104-118.
    21. Pieter Bevelander & Ravi Pendakur, 2012. "The labour market integration of refugee and family reunion immigrants: A comparison of outcomes in Canada and Sweden," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2012041, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    22. Francine D Blau & Lawrence M Kahn & Kerry L Papps, 2011. "Gender, Source Country Characteristics, and Labor Market Assimilation among Immigrants," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 43-58, February.
    23. 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.
    24. Floris Peters & Hans Schmeets & Maarten Vink, 2020. "Naturalisation and Immigrant Earnings: Why and to Whom Citizenship Matters," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(3), pages 511-545, July.
    25. 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).
    26. Cortes, Kalena E., 2004. "Are Refugees Different from Economic Immigrants? Some Empirical Evidence on the Heterogeneity of Immigrant Groups in the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 1063, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    27. Cristina Fernández & Carolina Ortega, 2008. "Labor market assimilation of immigrants in Spain: employment at the expense of bad job-matches?," Spanish Economic Review, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 83-107, June.
    28. Christina Gathmann & Nicolas Keller, 2018. "Access to Citizenship and the Economic Assimilation of Immigrants," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(616), pages 3141-3181, December.
    29. Ingo E. Isphording, 2015. "What drives the language proficiency of immigrants?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 177-177, August.
    30. Baert, Stijn & Albanese, Andrea & du Gardein, Sofie & Ovaere, Jolien & Stappers, Jarno, 2017. "Does work experience mitigate discrimination?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 35-38.
    31. Costanza Biavaschi & Corrado Giulietti & Zahra Siddique, 2017. "The Economic Payoff of Name Americanization," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(4), pages 1089-1116.
    32. Vincent Corluy & Ive Marx & Gerlinde Verbist, 2011. "Employment chances and changes of immigrants in Belgium: the impact of citizenship," Working Papers 1107, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    33. Hoyt Bleakley & Aimee Chin, 2010. "Age at Arrival, English Proficiency, and Social Assimilation among US Immigrants," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 165-192, January.
    34. 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.
    35. Amelie F. Constant, 2014. "Do migrants take the jobs of native workers?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-10, May.
    36. Chiswick, Barry R, 1991. "Speaking, Reading, and Earnings among Low-Skilled Immigrants," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(2), pages 149-170, April.
    37. 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).
    38. repec:iza:izawol:journl:y:2015:p:177 is not listed on IDEAS
    39. Stephen Drinkwater, 2017. "Why does unemployment differ for immigrants?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 376-376, July.
    40. Jonas Helgertz & Pieter Bevelander & Anna Tegunimataka, 2014. "Naturalization and Earnings: A Denmark–Sweden Comparison," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 337-359, August.
    41. Vincent Corluy & Joost Haemels & Ive Marx & Gerlinde Verbist, 2015. "The labour market position of second-generation immigrants in Belgium," Working Paper Research 285, National Bank of Belgium.
    42. Valentine Jacobs & Benoît Mahy & François Rycx & Mélanie Volral, 2021. "Over-education among immigrants: the role of demographics, time, and firm characteristics," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(1), pages 61-78, January.
    43. repec:iza:izawol:journl:y:2014:p:10 is not listed on IDEAS
    44. Nordin, Martin, 2007. "Immigrants' return to schooling in Sweden," Working Paper Series 2007:12, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fays, Valentine & Mahy, Benoît & Rycx, François, 2024. "Do migrants displace native-born workers on the labour market? The impact of workers' origin," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1420, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Isaure Delaporte & Hill Kulu, 2024. "Family Formation and Employment Changes Among Descendants of Immigrants in France: A Multiprocess Analysis," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 40(1), pages 1-77, December.
    3. Valentine Jacobs & Kevin Pineda-Hernández & François Rycx & Mélanie Volral, 2023. "Does over-education raise productivity and wages equally? The moderating role of workers’ origin and immigrants’ background," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 698-724, November.
    4. V. Jacobs & F. Rycx & M. Volral, 2022. "Wage Effects of Educational Mismatch According to Workers’ Origin: The Role of Demographics and Firm Characteristics," De Economist, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 459-501, November.
    5. Philemon Nji Kum & Frank Sylvio Talom & Robertson Khan Tengeh & Chux Gervase Iwu, 2024. "Immigrant entrepreneurs' survival seeking via financial strategies," Insights into Regional Development, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 6(4), pages 107-123, December.
    6. Valentine Fays & Benoît Mahy & François Ryckx, 2024. "Do migrants displace native-born workers on the labour market? The impact of workers’ origin," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2024004, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    7. Valentine Jacobs, 2021. "Wage Effects of Educational Mismatch According to Workers’ Origin: The Role of Demographics and Firm Characteristics," DULBEA Working Papers 23562, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    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. Van Borm, Hannah & Lippens, Louis & Baert, Stijn, 2022. "An Arab, an Asian, and a Black Guy Walk into a Job Interview: Ethnic Stigma in Hiring after Controlling for Social Class," IZA Discussion Papers 15707, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Kevin André Pineda-Hernández & François Rycx & Mélanie Volral, 2022. "Moving Up the Social Ladder? Wages of First- and Second-Generation Immigrants from Developing Countries," Working Papers CEB 22-012, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Céline Piton & François Rycx, 2020. "The heterogeneous employment outcomes of first- and second-generation immigrants in Belgium," Working Paper Research 381, National Bank of Belgium.
    3. Céline Piton & François Rycx, 2022. "L’ascenseur social est-il en panne pour les descendants d’immigrés ?," Reflets et perspectives de la vie économique, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(1), pages 31-45.
    4. 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.
    5. Jacob Nielsen Arendt & Christian Dustmann & Hyejin Ku, 2022. "Refugee migration and the labour market: lessons from 40 years of post-arrival policies in Denmark," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 38(3), pages 531-556.
    6. Ludolph, Lars, 2023. "The value of formal host-country education for the labour market position of refugees: evidence from Austria," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117392, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Ran Abramitzky & Leah Boustan, 2017. "Immigration in American Economic History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1311-1345, December.
    8. 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).
    9. Ludolph, Lars, 2023. "The value of formal host-country education for the labour market position of refugees: Evidence from Austria," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    10. Bedaso, Fenet, 2021. "The Labor Market Integration of Refugees and other Migrants in Germany," GLO Discussion Paper Series 884, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    11. 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.
    12. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht, 2011. "Migration and Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 327-439, Elsevier.
    13. Zwysen, Wouter & Demireva, Neli, 2020. "Who benefits from host country skills? Evidence of heterogeneous labour market returns to host country skills by migrant motivation," ISER Working Paper Series 2020-06, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    14. Francesco Fasani & Tommaso Frattini & Luigi Minale, 2017. "The (Struggle for) Labour Market Integration of Refugees: Evidence from European Countries," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1716, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    15. Lochmann, Alexia & Rapoport, Hillel & Speciale, Biagio, 2019. "The effect of language training on immigrants’ economic integration: Empirical evidence from France," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 265-296.
    16. Miranda, Alfonso & Zhu, Yu, 2013. "The Causal Effect of Deficiency at English on Female Immigrants' Labor Market Outcomes in the UK," IZA Discussion Papers 7841, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Francesco Fasani & Tommaso Frattini & Luigi Minale, 2022. "(The Struggle for) Refugee integration into the labour market: evidence from Europe [Cashier or consultant? Entry labor market conditions, field of study, and career success]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 351-393.
    18. Chen, Shuo & Xie, Bin, 2020. "Institutional Discrimination and Assimilation: Evidence from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882," IZA Discussion Papers 13647, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Pineda-Hernández, Kevin & Rycx, François & Volral, Mélanie, 2022. "Moving Up the Social Ladder? Wages of First- and Second-Generation Immigrants from Developing Countries," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1204, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    20. 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).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    First- and second-generation immigrants; employment; moderating factors;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • 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

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:485. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/glabode.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.