Stuck at the Bottom? Gender and Immigrants’ Entrapment in Low-skilled Work
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.150366Keywords:
Learning & Competencies, Employment, Wages, Unemployment & Rehabilitation, Gender, Ethnicity, Age and DiversityAbstract
Immigrant women are widely portrayed as facing a serious labor market disadvantage, yet gender differences in immigrants’ occupational mobility have been little explored. The article studied gender gaps in immigrants’ occupational entrapment, defined as entering and remaining in low-skilled/low-prestige work rather than moving on to more skilled/prestigious work. The analyses were based on longitudinal register data and followed five immigrant cohorts arriving in Sweden in the early 2000s over a 12-year period. The results show that immigrant women were more likely than men to start out in a low-skilled/low-prestige job and less likely to experience occupational mobility. However, tertiary education strongly mitigated these gender gaps. At the same time, the differences between high- and low-educated individuals widened more among women than among men. Family-related factors and country-specific human capital did not explain these patterns, but the findings indicate that occupational gender segregation can be crucial to immigrants’ mobility prospects.
Author Biographies
Anne Grönlund, Umeå University
Professor, Department of Social Work. E-mail: anne.gronlund@umu.se
Madelene Nordlund, Umeå University
PhD, Department of Sociology
References
Adsera, A. & Ferrer, A. (2016). Occupational skills and labor market progression of married immigrant women in Canada. Labor Economics, 39: 88-98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2016.02.003
Ala-Mantila, M. & Fleischmann, F. (2018). Gender differences in labor market integration trajectories of recently arrived migrants in the Netherlands. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44(11): 1818-1840. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2017.1382340
Alfonsson, J., Berglund, T., & Vulkan, P. (2023). Have low-paid jobs increased in the Swedish labor market? Defining low pay in the context of the Nordic model. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831X231215597
Banerjee, R. & Phan, M.B. (2015). Do tied movers get tied down? The occupational displacement of dependent applicant immigrants in Canada. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 16: 333-53. https://doi.org/10.1007/S12134-014-0341-9
Basilio, L., Bauer, T.K., & Sinning, M. (2009). Analyzing the labor market of immigrant families in Germany. Labor Economics, 16: 510–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2009.03.002
Becker, G. (1985). Human capital, effort and the sexual division of labor. Journal of Labor
Economics 3, 1(2): 33–58. https://doi: 10.1086/298075.
Becker, G. (1991). A Treatise on the Family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Benton, M., Fratzke, S., & Sumption, M. (2014). Moving up or Standing Still? Access to Middle-skilled Work for Newly Arrived Migrants in the EU. MPI and ILO, Washington and Geneva: Institute and International Labor Office.
Berglund, T. (2024). The transformation of the occupational structure in Sweden, In Berglund, T. & Ulfsdotter Eriksson, Y. (Eds.). (2024). Scrutinising Polarisation: Patterns and Consequences of Occupational Transformation in the Swedish Labor Market. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003412861
Berglund, T., Håkansson, K., & Isidorsson, T. (2022). Occupational change on the dualised Swedish labor market. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 43(2): 918-942.
Blau, F.D. & Kahn, L.M. (2017). The gender wage gap: Extent, trends, and explanations. Journal of Economic Literature, 55(3): 789-865. https://doi.org10.1257/jel.20160995
Blau, F.D., Brummund, P. & Yung-Hsu Liu, A. (2013). Trends in occupational segregation by gender 1970-2009: Adjusting for the impact of changes in the occupational coding system. Demography, 50(2): 471-494. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-013-0198-0
Blau, F.R. & Kahn, L.M. (2003). Understanding international differences in the gender pay gap. Journal of Labor Economics, 222(1):106-144. https://doi.org/10.1086/344125
Calmfors, L. & Gassen, N.S. (2019). Integrating immigrants into the Nordic labor markets: Background, summary and policy conclusions. In Integrating immigrants into the Nordic labor markets: 9-36. Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen. https://doi.org/10.6027/nord2019-024
Chiswick, B.R., Lee, Y. L., & Miller, P.W. (2005). Immigrant earnings: A longitudinal analysis. Review of Income and Wealth, 51: 485-503. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9361.00039
Drange, I., & Helland, H. (2019). The sheltering effect of occupational closure? Consequences for ethnic minorities’ earnings. Work and Occupations, 46(1): 45-89. https://doi.org/10.1177/0730888418780970
Duleep, H. (2015). The Adjustment of Immigrants in the Labor Market. Handbook of the Economics of International Migration. 1: 105-182. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-53764-5.00003-7
Duleep, H.O. & Dowhan, D.J. (2002). Revisiting the family investment model with longitudinal data: The earnings growth of immigrant and U.S.-born women. SSRN Electronic Journal. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.331460
Edlund, J. & Grönlund, A. (2008). Protection of mutual interests? Employment protection and skill formation in different labour market regimes. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 14(3): 245-264. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959680108094134
Ekonomifakta (2024) Utbildningsnivå – utrikes födda
England, P. (2010). The gender revolution: Uneven and stalled. Gender & Society, 24(2): 149–166. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243210361475
Estévez-Abe, M. (2005). Gender bias in skills and social policies: The varieties of capitalism perspectives on sex segregation. Social Politics, 12: 180–215.
Evertsson, M. & Nermo, M. (2004). Dependence within families and the division of labor: Comparing Sweden and the United States. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66(5): 1272-1286. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-2445.2004.00092.x
Eurofound (2019). Labour market segmentation. European Industrial Relations Dictionary. https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/european-industrial-relations-dictionary/labour-market-segmentation, last accessed 2024-08-29
Fellini, I. & Guetto, R. (2019). A ‘U-Shaped’ pattern of immigrants’ occupational careers? A comparative analysis of Italy, Spain, and France. International Migration Review, 53(1): 26-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/0197918318767931
Fellini, I., Guetto, R., & Reyneri, E. (2018). Poor returns to origin-country education for non-Western immigrants in Italy: An analysis of occupational status on arrival and mobility. Social Inclusion, 6(3): 34-47. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v6i3.1442
Fernández-Macías, E., Grande, R., del Rey Poveda, A., & Ignacio Antón, J. (2015). Employment and occupational mobility among recently arrived immigrants: The Spanish Case 1997–2007. Population Research and Policy Review, 34: 243-277. doi 10.1007/s11113-014-9347-4
Fleischmann, F. & Höhne, J., (2013). Gender and migration on the labor market: Additive or interacting disadvantages in Germany. Social Science Research, 42(5): 1325-1345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2013.05.006
Frattini, T. & Solmone, I. (2022). 6th Migration Observatory Report: Immigrant Integration in Europe. Centro Studi Luca d’Agliano.
García Román, J. (2021) Does women’s educational advantage mean a more egalitarian distribution of gender roles? Evidence from dual-earner couples in Spain. Journal of Family Studies, 29(1): 1-21. DOI 10.1080/13229400.2021.1915852
Goldthorpe, J.H. & Hope, K. (1974). The Social Grading of Occupations: A New Approach and Scale. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Grönlund, A. & Öun, I. (2024). Shackled by double disadvantage? Gender, segregation and immigrants’ occupational attainments. Acta Sociologica, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/00016993231219133
Grönlund, A. & Fairbrother, M. (2021). No escape from tradition? Source country culture and gendered employment patterns among immigrants in Sweden. International Journal of Sociology, 52(1): 49–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207659.2021.1978192
Grönlund, A. & Nordlund, M. (2022). A maternal wall for refugees? Gender and labor market establishment in Sweden. Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies, 12(1).
Kjellberg, A. (2023). Kollektivavtalens täckningsgrad och vita fläckar. Stockholm: Arena idé. kjellberg-2023-vita-flackar.pdf
Korpi, W., Ferrarini, T., & Englund, S. (2013). Women's opportunities under different family policy constellations: Gender, class, and inequality tradeoffs in Western countries re-examined. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 20(1): 1–40. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxs028
Liebig, T. & Tronstad, K.R. (2018). Triple disadvantage? A first overview of the integration of refugee women. OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers. https://doi.org/10.1787/3f3a9612-en
Magnusson, C. & Tåhlin, M. (2023) Skills, class and gender: Mapping the structure of work-life inequality, In Tåhlin, M. (Ed.). A Research Agenda for Skills and Inequality. Edward Elgar Publishing https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800378469.00008
Mincer, J. (1978). Family Migration Decisions. Journal of Political Economy, 86(5): 749-969 https://doi.org/10.1086/260710
MIPEX (2020). Migrant Integration Policy Index. https://www.mipex.eu [Accessed 20 April 2023].
Mood, C. (2010). Logistic regression: why we cannot do what we think we can do, and what we can do about it. European Sociological Review, 26(1): 67–82. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcp006
OECD. (2016). Skills and Labor Market Integration of Immigrants and their Children in
Sweden. Paris: OECD. https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264257382-en
OECD. (2017). Employment Outlook. Paris: OECD. https://doi.org/10.1787/2cbdf59d-en
Rooth, D-O. & Ekberg, J. (2006). Occupational mobility for immigrants in Sweden. International Migration, 44(2): 57-77. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.2006.00364.x
Schiekoff, B. & Sprengholt, M. (2021). The labor market integration of immigrant women in Europe: context, theory, and evidence. SN Social Sciences, 1(11): 276. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00279-3
Simón, H., Ramon, R., & Sanromá, E. (2014). Immigrant occupational mobility longitudinal evidence from Spain. European Journal of Population, 30(2): 223-55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-014-9313-1
Svensson, L. & Ulfsdotter Eriksson, Y. (2009). Yrkesstatus. En sociologisk studie av hur yrken uppfattas och värderas. [Professional status. A sociological study of how professions are perceived and valued]. Research report, University of Gothenborg, Sweden.
Tibajev, A. (2023). The economic return to labour market experience of immigrants in Sweden. Social Indicators Research, 170(1): 5-23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-023-03089-7
Treiman, D. (1977). Occupational Prestige in Comparative Perspective. New York: Academic Press, Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1016/C2013-0-11617-0
Tåhlin, M. (2019). Polariseringsmyten. Försvinner verkligen de medelkvalificerade jobben? Stockholm: Arena idé. Stockholms universitet www.arenaide.se/rapporter
Ulfsdotter Eriksson, Y., Berglund, T., & Nordlander, E. (2022). Upgrading or polarizing? Gendered patterns of change in the occupational prestige hierarchy between 1997 and 2015. Frontiers in Sociology, 7. https:// doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2022.834514
Wegener, B. (1992). Concepts and measurement of prestige. Annual Review of Sociology, 18: 253-280. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.18.080192.001345
World Economic Forum. (2020). Global gender gap report. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2020.pdf
Xie, Y. & Greenman, E. (2011). The social context of assimilation: Testing implications of segmented assimilation theory. Social Science Research, 40(3): 965-984. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2011.01.004
Åberg, R. (2015). Svensk arbetsmarknad mot polarisering efter millennieskiftet. Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv, 21(4): 8-25. [Swedish labour market towards polarization in the new millennium]
Åslund, O. & Skans, O. N. (2010). Will I see you at work? Ethnic workplace segregation in Sweden, 1985–2002. ILR Review, 63(3): 471-493. https://doi.org/10.1177/001979391006300306
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Author and Journal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The Copyright Holder of this Journal is the authors and the Journal. Normally the journal use the CC-BY NC-ND 4.0 licence.
Exceptions to the license terms may be granted
If you want to use content in the Journal in another way then described by this license, you must contact the licensor and ask for permission. Contact Bo Carstens at bo.carstens@gmail.com. Exceptions are always given for specific purposes and specific content only.
Sherpa/Romeo
The Journal is listed as a blue journal in Sherpa/Romeo, meaning that the author can archive post-print ((ie final draft post-refereeing) and author can archive publisher's version/PDF.
Copyright of others
Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere.
Archives policy
All published material is archived at Roskilde University Library, Denmark, and transmitted to the Danish Royal Library in conformity with the Danish rules of legal deposit.
Plagiarism screening
We do not screen articles for plagiarism. It is the responsibility of the authors to make sure they do not plagiate.
