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Many empirical studies on immigrant integration document the benefits of an education acquired in the country of destination. In this article; we study how the degree of human capital transferability affects an immigrant's chances of studying in Spain. We used data from the Spanish Labour Force Survey (2008-2015) for a sample of adults aged 18-55 who had left the educational system. The main findings show that natives are the ethnic group with the highest likelihood of re-enrolling in education. Amongst immigrants, those with fewer limitations on human capital transferability also invest more. These results question the predictions of the "Immigrant Human Capital Investment" model which expect that immigrants whose human capital depreciates upon arrival and those who can obtain a higher return on a new investment in education are therefore more likely to study. Moreover, the effect of skill transferability differs depending on the type of obstacle and the kind of education. Immigrants with less linguistic and cultural familiarity with the host country are less likely to undertake non-formal education than formal education. However, when the transferability obstacles are related to administrative requirements and legal restrictions, the probability of investing in non-formal education is higher. We conclude that immigrants with low skill transferability are not only less well integrated in the labour market upon arrival, but are also less able to redress that disadvantage through a new investment in education.

The article analyzes the effects of minimum income programs on labor market participation and labor activation services. It focuses on the Asturian basic social wage, a regional program that has undergone significant changes since its creation in 2005-06. The analysis shows that people who obtain full-time contracts are more likely to leave the minimum income program than those who do not obtain such a contract. Additionally, it is suggested that increasing compatibility between employment and economic benefits would be crucial in facilitating program exit. The article also highlights the importance of labor activation policies in relation to social benefit recipients. Data and analysis on the functioning of the minimum income system in Asturias, Spain are presented, and it is concluded that the probability of leaving the employment system is higher among women and immigrants, and that the majority of beneficiaries are over 35 years old. [Extracted from the article]

An analysis is made of the sensitivity of minimum income schemes to the effects of labour market participation and active labour market services. Data comes from the only regional scheme in Spain that has an open‐ended duration and has existed for a period long enough to be analysed. This scheme shows the closest resemblance with the first national minimum income programme, introduced by the Spanish government in 2020 (Ingreso Mínimo Vital). Survival analysis results show that people who access full‐time work contracts have a higher probability of exiting into employment than those who do not, although the majority of people who sign at least one contract remain in the scheme, nevertheless. A defining element for exiting the scheme is work intensity. Thus, despite the fact that the scheme is compatible with some jobs, results suggest that increasing the compatibility between work and benefit would be a crucial factor in facilitating exit from the scheme. In addition, analyses of the elements defining the probability of signing a work contract while on the benefit show that active labour market policies heighten said probability, but do not subsequently influence exit from the scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature researching the drivers of highly skilled migration (HSM) often prioritizes labor market returns to education and downscales the importance of public welfare. This article develops an innovative empirical strategy which allows us to see how a selection of pull factors attracts temporary and long‐term educated migrants in Europe. To do so, we built a unique longitudinal contextual dataset merging information from the European Labor Force Survey (2000‐2014) with selected Eurostat and OECD country indicators. Country‐fixed effect time series allow us to concentrate on cross‐country effects. Our evidence suggests that returns to education attract temporary HSM and long‐term stayers equally. However, it is also shown that public welfare and taxation operate differently for these two groups and do not deter long‐term residents. Our article proposes revisiting the assumption that HSMs are mere income maximizers. As we argue, long‐term HSM may well be attracted by generous welfare setups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transferability of human capital is a key issue in the analysis of immigrants' integration in the destination country, according to both empirical and theoretical literature. In addition to the problem of recognition of immigrants' educational credentials and their lack of social networks, language is highlighted in the literature as a crucial factor regarding human capital transfer. This paper considers the role played by Spanish language skills in the integration of migrants into the labour market in Spain. It takes advantage of the fact that about half of the immigrant population have Spanish as their native language, and of the diversity levels of fluency in Spanish among the remaining immigrants. Using the Labour Force Survey special module on the labour market situation of immigrants (INE 2015), the research has two purposes: first, to measure the direct effect of language skills on employment outcomes; and second, to analyze the complementary vs. substitution hypotheses regarding the interaction between Spanish language skills and educational credentials as determining factors for employment. The results confirm that skill levels in Spanish have a significant role regarding access to employment. Regarding the complementary vs. substitution hypotheses, interesting gender differences appear that confirm the striking contrasts in the Spanish labour market for female and male immigrants. For men, their level of Spanish acts as a complement to their educational qualifications in helping them to obtain employment, but this is not the case for women. However, female immigrant workers seem to obtain higher employment returns on their educational qualifications than men when it comes to avoiding very low-skilled jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the patterns of engagement in education of young people of immigrant origin resident in Spain, using data from the Spanish Labour Force Survey. The results show that the probability that immigrant-origin youth may be outside the educational system is higher than the probability for native youth, but only for those who came to Spain after the age of ten years old. In addition, their reaction to changes in the employment situation has been less intense. Also, parental educational resources slow down the reaction to changes in employment opportunities for the children of native people and daughters of immigrants, decreasing the inequality within each group in contexts of recession, but this is not the case for male young immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the outflows of the foreign-born population resident in Spain; specifically, it examines the variations in the probability of emigrating and the intensity of self-selection during the different phases of the economic cycle. In order to do this, survival analysis models were calculated using data from the Spanish Labour Force Survey between 2005 and 2010. The results show, on the one hand, an increase in the probability of emigrating from the start of the recession; and on the other hand, that the probability of emigrating is higher among immigrants with worse employment outcomes and a poorer educational background, as suggested by Neo-classical Economics. However, the effect of unemployment and of the deficit in human capital has been decreasing since 2008. That is, during the recession, negative self-selection is reduced compared to the period of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the impact that the current economic crisis is having on the extent to which education protects migrants and natives from unemployment in Spain. To do so, we use random constant models on a pooled sample of respondents to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) from 2003 to 2012. Specifically, we analyse the market value of the educational credentials held by African, Latin American and East European migrants compared with Spanish males aged 16–50. Our conclusions indicate that inequality in the returns provided by education to migrants and natives has been growing fast in recent years. In other words, migrants have been less able to grant themselves an employment through their education than natives since 2008 when the Spanish economy started to contract and that this process has also been speeding up since. We also identify important differences within the migrant category: while the potential to prevent unemployment among better-educated migrants from Eastern Europe decreased during the economic recession, it is Africans and Latin Americans who are worse off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]