Employment and Occupational Mobility among Recently Arrived Immigrants: The Spanish Case 1997–2007

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyse occupational mobility among immigrants in Spain in two distinct stages: (1) comparing the immigrants' first job in Spain with their profession in the country of origin and (2) comparing their current occupational status with the occupational status of the first job they held in Spain. We focus on immigrants who arrived in Spain during the ''immigration boom'' that took place between 1997 and 2007, using data from the 2007 National Survey on Immigration. For our analysis, we use occupational mobility tables and multi-variable models with occupational mobility as a dependent variable. Our results show that we can better understand the initial access of migrants to the Spanish labour market from the perspective of labour market segregation: for each gender, a particular sector/occupational level (construction and cleaning, respectively) played such a dominant role that it determined almost entirely the observed mobility pattern. We find some (upward) mobility opportunities after such initial strong segregation, which increased with length of residence; however, our results suggest that, even in this case, it is mostly limited to men and associated with the construction boom that finished abruptly in 2007.

A “U-Shaped” Pattern of Immigrants’ Occupational Careers? A Comparative Analysis of Italy, Spain, and France

“…Once the latter is controlled for, higher education is associated with lower risks of occupational downgrade (Simón, Sanromá, and Ramos 2014). Finally, immigrants from non-Western countries tend to experience much higher occupational downgrade and lower upward mobility compared to their Western counterparts (Stanek and Veira-Ramos 2013; Simón, Sanromá, and Ramos 2014; Fernández-Macías et al 2015).…”

Ethnic penalty and occupational mobility in the Italian labour market

“…These findings are confirmed by recent studies conducted on Southern European countries. Fernández-Macías et al. (2015) and Simón et al.…”

“…These findings are confirmed by recent studies conducted on Southern European countries. Ferna´ndez-Mac ıas et al (2015) and Sim on et al (2014) highlight the inconsistency of the U-shaped model in Spain, a country characterized by a wide secondary labour market: after the initial downgrade, immigrants experience limited occupational mobility. Similar results are achieved by the first comparative study on this issue (Fellini and Guetto, 2019), that considers Italy, Spain and France, three countries with a dualistic labour market.…”

Vulnerability of Latin American Migrant Families Headed by Women in Spain During the Great Recession: A Couple-Level Analysis

“…In general, migrants, especially low-skilled migrants, have a more precarious and marginal position in the labor market (Tilly, 2011). Several studies have explored the occupational mobility of Latin American female migrants in Spain and concluded that a “U”-shaped pattern was observed in their occupational trajectories, mainly from domestic services to other occupations within the secondary segment of the labor market (Aysa-Lastra & Cachón, 2013; Fernández-Macías, Grande, del Rey Poveda, & Antón, 2015; Parella, Petroff, & Solé, 2013; Vidal-Coso & Miret, 2014).…”