Ethnic minority immigrants and their children in Britain

Abstract

According to the 2001 UK Census ethnic minority groups account for 4.6 million or 7.9 percent of the total UK population. The 2001 British Labour Force Survey indicates that the descendants of Britain's ethnic minority immigrants form an important part of the British population (2.8 percent) and of the labour force (2.1 percent). In this paper, we use data from the British Labour Force Survey over the period 1979-2005 to investigate educational attainment and economic behaviour of ethnic minority immigrants and their children in Britain. We compare different ethnic minority groups born in Britain to their parent's generation and to equivalent groups of white native born individuals. Intergenerational comparisons suggest that British born ethnic minorities are on average more educated than their parents as well more educated than their white native born peers. Despite their strong educational achievements, we find that ethnic minority immigrants and their British born children exhibit lower employment probabilities than their white native born peers. However, significant differences exist across immigrant/ethnic groups and genders. British born ethnic minorities appear to have slightly higher wages than their white native born peers. But if British born ethnic minorities were to face the white native regional distribution and were attributed white native characteristics, their wages would be considerably lower. The substantial employment gap between British born ethnic minorities and white natives cannot be explained by observable differences. We suggest some possible explanations for these gaps. We compare different ethnic minority groups born in Britain to their parent's generation and to equivalent groups of white native born individuals. Intergenerational comparisons suggest that British born ethnic minorities are on average more educated than their parents as well more educated than their white native born peers. Despite their strong educational achievements, we find that ethnic minority immigrants and their British born children exhibit lower employment probabilities than their white native born peers. However, significant differences exist across immigrant/ethnic groups and genders. British born ethnic minorities appear to have slightly higher wages than their white native born peers. But if British born ethnic minorities were to face the white native regional distribution and were attributed white native characteristics, their wages would be considerably lower. The substantial employment gap between British born ethnic minorities and white natives cannot be explained by observable differences. We suggest some possible explanations for these gaps.

Educational Achievement of Second Generation Immigrants: An International Comparison

“…Individuals in the latter group are likely to be the daughters and sons of individuals in the former group. This is similar to the approach followed by Dustmann and Theodoropoulos (2010).…”

Migration and Education

“…Using 64 Dustmann and Theodoropoulos (2010) analyse the educational attainment and economic behaviour of ethnic minority immigrants and their children in Britain and compare it to that of their white British born peers, showing that Britain's ethnic minority immigrants and their children are on average better educated than their white native-born peers, and that groups with better educated parents have higher levels of education.…”

How Responsive Is Investment in Schooling to Changes in Redistributive Policies and in Returns?

“…28 See Moock, Patrinos and Venkataraman (1998). 29 See Dustmann and Theodoropoulos (2010) and Aydemir and Sweetman (2006). moderate increase in the redistributive policy will still induce educational responses, although the estimated effect of a partial reform are less precisely measured.…”