Immigrant Occupational Mobility: Longitudinal Evidence from Spain

Abstract

This article examines the occupational mobility of immigrants between their countries of origin and Spain on the basis of one of the few surveys available internationally with longitudinal information on immigrant employment in home and host countries. The evidence shows that the occupational status of immigrants in the Spanish labour market is, in general, substantially worse than in their countries of origin. The severe loss of occupational status experienced by immigrants is explained by the combined effect of the intense initial downgrading they experience when entering the Spanish labour market and their very slow occupational progress during their stay in Spain. These findings are more in line with the segmented assimilation theory, which suggests a limited or blocked immigrant occupational mobility, than with the assimilation theory, which predicts a U-shaped evolution in the occupational status of immigrants between their home and host countries. As a result, the Spanish case contrasts sharply with previous evidence for other advanced countries, which tends to support the assimilation perspective. Finally, the empirical evidence suggests that one of the elements impeding the occupational mobility of immigrants in Spain is the significant size of the secondary segment of the labour market, which restricts immigrants' opportunities mainly to low-status occupations.

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

“…One of the main innovations of this paper is the inclusion of unemployment and inactivity as categories in the models, compared, for instance, with the works of Vono and Vidal (2012) and Simón et al (2014). This issue definitely matters when drawing the picture of migrant economic mobility in Spain, showing that the progression of foreign-born population in the Spanish labour market during their first decade of residence is very limited.…”

“…(2) Simón et al (2014) used the ISEI index by occupational category to evaluate changes in occupational status, also finding a ''U-shaped'' pattern, where immigrants with higher levels of education and those from developing countries suffer a greater initial decline and then more pronounced ascending patterns; also, women experience more downward mobility initially and have greater chances to move upward over time.…”

Diferenciación socio-espacial y segregación racial en España

“…La existencia de idiomas, tecnologías u organizaciones empresariales diferentes a las del país de origen de los inmigrantes provoca que parte del capital humano adquirido por éstos no sea útil en el nuevo entorno. De hecho, los datos de la Encuesta de Estructura Salarial de 2006, mostraban que los inmigrantes al llegar a España reciben, en promedio, un salario alrededor de un 30% inferior al de un trabajador de nacionalidad española de similares características en términos de nivel educativo y experiencia profesional (Simón et al, 2008(Simón et al, y 2014. Aunque este supuesto desfase de capital laboral tampoco ha sido muy significativo ya que los puestos vacantes han sido para las mujeres, las ocupaciones de servicios más bajas (más del 60%) y para los hombres, las ocupaciones industriales y de construcción más bajas (cerca del 40%) por lo que no es que haya existido la posibilidad de aplicar los conocimientos adquiridos en el país de origen (Fernández et al, 2014).…”

Poor Returns to Origin-Country Education for Non-Western Immigrants in Italy: An Analysis of Occupational Status on Arrival and Mobility

“…However, the Southern European countries are still scarcely considered, despite their prominent role as destinations for international migration flows in recent decades, apart from some attention devoted to Spain (Sanromá et al, 2015;Simón, Ramos, & Sanromá, 2014).…”