Is There a North–South Divide in Integration Outcomes? A Comparison of the Integration Outcomes of Immigrants in Southern and Northern Europe

Abstract

Integration models are often viewed as a necessary tool for framing integration policies, and for measuring integration efficiency. While ''old'' European immigration countries in Europe account for a systematic framework of integration policies embedded in a given integration philosophy, new immigration countries (particularly Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain) have lacked a coherent set of integration policies and practices and, it goes without saying, a philosophical approach to integration. This vacuum has often been seen as a source of marginalization and 'differential exclusion', suggesting the existence of a North-South divide in integration matters, and more importantly, outcomes. However, there is still a striking lack of appropriate comparative empirical evidence backing or dismissing this divide. The objective of this article is to explore national-level differences in the real performance of immigrants in selected European countries of immigration along key indicators of integration outcomes, including school attainment and labor market participation. We here discuss the position of Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal as a coherent cluster of countries and compare the performance of their migrants with that of other foreign-born workers settled in the West of Europe. Our evidence provides little support for the idea that the Southern countries are a unique cluster and that they homogeneously lag behind in terms of integration outcomes.

Antecedents of job search self-efficacy of Syrian refugees in Greece and the Netherlands

“…Recent research suggests that gender plays a role in employment in the current refugee cohort ( Cebolla-Boado & Finotelli, 2015 ), because traditional views of gender roles might affect women's employment-related self-efficacy ( Konle-Seidl & Bolits, 2016 ). Thus, we controlled for gender.…”

“…The current study expands previous work by examining psychological capital, which previous studies used to operationalize individual adaptive readiness, as one of the key factors that might contribute to refugees' career adaptability and JSSE. Although individual differences have been found to be related to refugees' coping and recovery from trauma ( Jayasuriya, Sang, & Fielding, 1992 ), the investigation of person-centered variables in relation to employment-related outcomes has to date remained restricted to demographic factors such as gender ( Cebolla-Boado & Finotelli, 2015 ), human capital ( Hartog & Zorlu, 2009 ), and social capital ( Konle-Seidl & Bolits, 2016 ). Research on how adaptive readiness affects refugees' employment-related outcomes is lacking.…”

Integration Policies and Immigrants’ Labor Market Outcomes in Europe

“…According to the authors, a match between jobs and qualifications among the foreign born is positively associated with full and immediate access to the labor market. Other research finds no significant association between MIPEX and other outcomes of immigrants' labor market integration: unemployment propensity (Cebolla Boado and Finotelli 2011;Pichler 2011), labor force participation (Cebolla Boado and Finotelli 2015;Pichler 2011), occupational prestige (Corrigan 2015), and occupational class (Pichler 2011). Hadjar and Backes (2013) report a smaller gap in subjective well-being between immigrants and natives in countries with higher MIPEX scores.…”

How much can you take with you? The role of education in explaining differences in the risk of unemployment between migrants and natives

“…There are, however, many differences in immigrants' labour market performance across host countries. This is partly due to different configurations of institutions in destination countries, including the approach to integration (Cebolla- Boado & Finotelli, 2015), labour markets (Piore, 1975;Reid & Rubin, 2003), regimes of credential recognition, general attitudes towards immigration and the size of the informal economy.…”