Skill Underutilization and Under-Skilling in Europe: The Role of Workplace Discrimination

Abstract

This article examines the effects of discrimination based on race, ethnic background, nationality, religion, sex, age, disability and sexual orientation on skill under-utilization and under-skilling in 30 European countries using the European Working Conditions Survey.People who experienced a variety of forms of workplace discrimination were more likely to report over-skilling, defined as having skills for more demanding roles than required for their job. Paradoxically, some forms of labour market discrimination were also linked to underskilling where people report requiring more training to fulfil their job role. The findings are explained in terms of how discrimination in the labour market can have differential impacts on access to career progression and training opportunities across organisations. Differences between self-report and statistical estimates of discrimination are observed, holding potential broader implications for the interpretation of statistical models in discrimination research.

Employment Inequalities Among British Minority Ethnic Workers in Health and Social Care at the Time of Covid-19: A Rapid Review of the Literature

“…Racism and discrimination at work lead to losses at the labour market level, such as deskilling and skill under-utilisation (Rafferty, 2020) and several adverse work and individual outcomes (Serafini et al, 2020;Xu and Chopik, 2020). Such adverse influences span throughout the employment processes, from recruitment to working conditions and progression opportunities.…”

Migrant Entrepreneurship Enablers: From Chance Encounters to Community Development

“…Entrepreneur enablers further help migrants overcome the adverse effects of a business environment that lacks diversity (Eliasson, 2014) and to ameliorate discriminatory practices (cf. De Lange et al, 2019; Rafferty, 2019). Such obstacles combined with lack of accessible institutionalized business support prompts some migrants to hire or collaborate with a Dutch person to act as an intermediary with the local business environment, yet motivates others to develop supportive communities themselves.…”

Towards liminality competence: a migrant's talent identity narratives for re-imagining global talent management

“…Phase 1 -Separation from home country can be a tense, turbulent period of separation from all that is known in the home country, with several push and pull factors encouraging the migrant to emigrate. Our identity builds upon our upbringing and our relationships, and our narratives are a concomitant part of navigating our identity formation in work and home life (Rafferty, 2020). A migrant's talent identity is therefore significantly influenced by parents, education and work.…”

“…Migrants and their families are vulnerable to receiving unfair treatment and discrimination both in societal elements and employment conditions (Van Laer and Janssens, 2011). Migrants are highly likely to accept precarious jobs (Bloch and McKay, 2015), experience poor career progression and gain few training opportunities (Rafferty, 2020). Reasons for this include: racial discrimination and unrecognised professional experience, lack of academic qualifications and poor language proficiency (Timming, 2017).…”