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Using microdata from the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU‐LFS) and aggregate indicators of labour market institutions, this article compares the job quality of native and non‐native workers across European countries and analyses the impact of the institutional settings on the job quality differential between both groups. The LFS is used to measure a job quality index for the period 2005–2017. We find that some immigrant groups fare worse than natives, the contribution of the "composition effect" to explain this differential is large, and the institutional framework affects the immigration gap in job quality. In particular, some labour market institutions (more centralized wage bargaining, stricter employment protection legislation) tend to be detrimental for immigrants relative to natives, while integration policies seem to work well in reducing these differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we start out from theoretical concepts about different types of migrants that feature prominently in the immigration literature. By applying latent class analysis to a unique 'mini‐panel' data set on recent Polish and Turkish immigrants in Germany, we identify two types of migrants that are in line with the literature, namely settlers and target‐earners. We label a third group that is best described as educational target‐earners: 'young learners/professionals'. Regarding variation in these groups' early sociocultural integration patterns, results suggest that they reflect primarily differences in migrants' intention to stay, individual resources such as education, and opportunities for integration related to newcomers' involvement in the educational system or labour force. In sum, migrant types – though certainly more intuitively appealing and vivid than single 'variables' – seem to have limited explanatory power when it comes to predicting newcomers' early integration trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uncovers variations in female labour force participation (FLFP) among women in the US originating from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with a focus on differences by nativity status, and investigates the role of ethnically homogamous relationships in explaining these variations. Lower levels of US labour force participation among women from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is puzzling, given that these women have higher educational attainments than most women in the US. Recent work has suggested that looking more closely at the influence of homogamy on immigrant women's economic activity may help to explain this puzzle. Drawing from prior research on FLFP and immigrant integration, we hypothesized that foreign‐born women from MENA will report lower labour force participation rates relative to their US‐born counterparts, and ethnically homogamous marriage will explain differences in FLFP across nativity status. Data come from the Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) from 2012–2016 American Community Surveys (ACS). The analytic sample consists of 33,133 women in the United states of MENA origin who are in the prime working ages of 25 to 59. As hypothesized, we found that foreign‐born MENA women reported significantly lower labour force participation rates than their US‐born counterparts. We also found that after controlling for all relevant characteristics, MENA women (both US‐born and foreign‐born) with MENA husbands remained dramatically less likely to be in the labour force than women with non‐MENA husbands. Our findings suggest the disadvantage in FLFP experienced by foreign‐born MENA women is due mostly to high rates of ethnically homogamous relationships among this population relative to their US‐born counterparts. Thus, our study highlights ethnic homogamy as a structural‐cultural barrier for MENA women's labour force activity in the US and suggests that empirical research on FLFP and immigrant integration should consider partner characteristics as a key determinant of women's labour force participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the puzzle that the earnings of African immigrants do not match their high qualifications in terms of educational attainment. We apply cohort analysis to compare the economic assimilation patterns of black African immigrants with that of black non‐African immigrants. We find results that are consistent with the idea that the lower earnings of African immigrants are due to greater difficulty with skill transferability. Africans face substantially lower earnings at entry than black natives and black non‐African immigrants, although they close a substantial part of the initial earnings gap over time. Moreover, the earnings gap at entry has narrowed for recent cohorts; and Africans who migrate during childhood and those with no college education face no disadvantage. We also find similar patterns of assimilation in labour supply and participation in welfare programmes, which indicate that Africans face greater challenges at entry but assimilate at a faster rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European debates on immigrant integration focus on employment because of its implications for assimilation. Although studies show that Sub‐Saharan African immigrants are most disadvantaged across Europe, cross‐national analyses do not examine labour force participation (LFP) or control for selection into the labour force before estimating employment, calling these results into question. Furthermore, studies rarely discuss visible minority status or gender making it unclear whether (1) country‐context matters for African LFP and employment and (2) visible minority status matters differently by gender. I use French and Spanish census data to determine whether Sub‐Saharan Africans are most disadvantaged in new and traditional receiving countries. My results indicate that country‐context matters, but previous employment findings likely reflect variation in LFP. Despite smaller penalties to migration characteristics in Spain, Sub‐Saharan African men are the only group significantly less likely to be employed in Spain, indicating that they experience unique barriers to job access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study analyses how remittances to Nigeria affect the labour supply of recipients using Propensity Score Matching ( PSM) and a Log-Linear regression model, with data from the 2013 Nigerian General Household Survey. The PSM results show that for the entire sample, the difference between the average amount of labour supplied per week by those that receive remittances and the amount they would have supplied without remittances is insignificant. The marginal impact analysis also shows that, ceteris paribus, the average labour supply for all recipients is inelastic to remittances. The results from the sub-group analysis, however, show that receiving remittances negatively affects the labour supply of the self-employed in agriculture, teenagers and the elderly. These results led us to the recommendation that policies to increase the inflow of remittances should be encouraged but in tandem with programmes to educate farmers on the benefit of investing remittances received in their farming business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the trends in the economic advantage that highly educated immigrants hold over less educated immigrants in Canada, focusing on the differences between short-run and longer-run outcomes. Using data from the Longitudinal Immigration Database covering the period from the 1980s to the 2000s, this study finds that the relative entry earnings advantage that higher education provides to new immigrants has decreased dramatically over the last 30 years. However, university-educated immigrants had a much steeper earnings trajectory than immigrants with trades or a high school education. The earnings advantage among highly educated immigrants increases significantly with time spent in Canada. This pattern is observed for virtually all immigrant classes and arrival cohorts. The results suggest that short-run economic outcomes of immigrants are not good predictors of longer-run results, at least by educational attainment. The implications of these findings for immigration selection policy are discussed in the conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how post-2004 Polish immigrants in Great Britain narrate success and failure in their lives. It identifies and analyses inter-related narrations specific to the transnational form of migration. It considers migrants' transnational orientation as a resource for narratively producing a successful biography. The article makes use of a biographical perspective and embeds the analysis in theories of biographical action, while adding new knowledge to the scholarship of migration. It argues that failure is relative to a normatively, locally fixed expectation of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to illuminate the deteriorating situation of immigrants in the Swedish labour market. Two questions are in focus. First, is the pattern of a deteriorating labour market situation and increased difficulty entering the economy of the host country applicable to all immigrants? Second, are immigrants more vulnerable to the state of the economy than natives? Large samples of immigrant women and immigrant men as well as large samples of native men and women for the period 1978 to 1999 are studied by observing annual earnings. Low annual earnings signal a weak labour market attachment. The results show that while earnings of foreign-born relative to natives deteriorated for less-privileged immigrants, this was not the case for young adults originating from the north-western part of Europe and North America. In addition, there were no indications of newer immigrants of such origins faring worse than their peers who had arrived earlier when observed during the same number of years since immigration. In contrast, earnings of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and countries outside Europe, who arrived during the first part of the 1980s, were lower than for their counterparts who had arrived earlier. Non-European immigrants who arrived during the first half of the 1980s had earnings in the mid-1990s that were remarkably low. Less-privileged immigrants are more vulnerable than natives to the state of the economy as measured by the unemployment rate. Recently arrived immigrants are more vulnerable to the state of the economy and some signs indicate vulnerability weakens by year since immigration. Thus, a low unemployment rate is relatively more important for categories of immigrants that are not in a privileged situation in the host country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysian construction is highly dependant on immigrant labour; immigrants account for nearly 70 per cent of its workforce. Although they have aided the sector's rapid expansion, it has not been without costs. This paper examines the impact of immigrant labour on construction. The main finding is that immigrants, being largely unskilled, did not contribute to skill formation. Instead, they accumulated skills on-the-job, which were lost when they returned home. There was no evidence that immigrants displaced domestic workers since they were concentrated in jobs rejected by Malaysians. Furthermore, unlike in earlier periods, legal immigrants were no longer a cheap option, given the regulations governing their employment. They were not used to cut costs per se, but were used because domestic workers were not available in sufficient numbers. Despite the large immigrant presence, the general wage level increased, though admittedly not as rapidly as it might have in their absence. The reliance on immigrant workers has increased the need for supervision and quality control, thereby reducing the savings in cost; nonetheless, immigrants have helped keep costs in check. Surprisingly, rising wages and the continued shortage of labour have not led to a widespread adoption of labour-saving methods. This is partly because productivity increases have managed to outpace wage increases, though this advantage is petering out. Also, immigrant presence has kept wages, as a proportion of total costs, manageable. The over reliance of the sector on immigrant labour is not desirable, especially since the majority is drawn from one source - Indonesia. Any disruption of supply from this source can undermine the Malaysian economy. To avoid this, Malaysia must vary its source of immigrant labour and intensify efforts to attract domestic workers by improving conditions in construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing high levels of temporary migration between Central and Eastern Europe and the European Union (EU) have highlighted a number of concerns relating to the eastern enlargement of the Union. While much of the debate has focused on the destinations, we use Slovakia as a case study to explore economic implications for the countries of origin of highly skilled migrants. First, the paper examines estimates of the scale of“youth brain migration”, comparing survey-based and expert-opinion estimates with our own estimate based on reconciling labour market and educational data. This identifies a substantial loss of graduate workers from the labour force through migration, accounting for a potentially significant proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. Second, we consider whether such migration will constitute“brain drain/overflow” or“brain circulation”: in other words will it be temporary or permanent? In some ways, however, this is a false dichotomy, for there are strong links between initial temporary migration and intended permanent migration, explored here through a survey of the motivations and social networks of returned migrants. Third, we address the ability of national states to intervene to mediate such losses. We generally concur with other commentators on the need for a multi-scalar and multi-functional approach, focusing especially on economic development. However, we are pessimistic about the likely speed of economic convergence and, moreover, argue that initial temporary migration (with implications for permanent migration) will continue to be driven by non-economic goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]