The labor market integration of immigrant women in Europe: context, theory, and evidence

In this overview, we seek to provide a comprehensive resource for scholars of female immigrant labor market integration in Europe, to act both as a reference and a roadmap for future studies in this domain. We begin by presenting a contextual history of immigration to and within Europe since the Second World War, before outlining the major theoretical assumptions about immigrant women’s labor market disadvantage. We then synthesize the empirical findings from quantitative studies published between 2000 and 2020 and analyze how they line up with the theoretical predictions. We supplement the review with descriptive analyses using data from 2019, which expose any discrepancies between the current situation in European countries and the situation during the time periods considered in the reviewed studies. Our review has three main take-aways. First, the theoretically relevant determinants of immigrant women’s labor market integration are generally supported by empirical evidence, but the unexplained heterogeneity that remains in many cases between immigrant women and other groups on the labor market calls for more systematic and comprehensive investigations. Second, quantitative studies which take a holistic approach to studying the labor market disadvantages of immigrant women—and all the considerations related to their gender and nativity that this entails—are rare in this body of literature, and future studies should address this. Third, fruitful avenues for future contributions to this field include expanding on certain overlooked outcomes, like immigrant women’s self-employment, as well as geographic regions that until now have received little attention, especially by employing the most recent data.

Migration and Labor Market Integration in Europe

The European labor market allows for the border-free mobility of workers across 31 countries that cover most of the continent’s population. However, rates of migration across European countries remain considerably lower than interstate migration in the United States, and spatial variation in terms of unemployment or income levels is larger. We document patterns of migration in Europe, which include a sizable migration from east to west in the last twenty years. An analysis of worker-level microdata provides some evidence for an international convergence in wage rates and for modest static gains from migration. We conclude by discussing obstacles to migration that reduce the potential for further labor market integration in Europe.

Arbeitsintegrationsverläufe syrischer Geflüchteter in Deutschland – Eine Typologie der Bedingungen und Wechselwirkungen im Zeitverlauf

Zusammenfassung Wo stehen Geflüchtete fünf Jahre nach der Einreise hinsichtlich ihrer Arbeitsmarktintegration? Der vorliegende Beitrag nähert sich dieser Fragestellung aus einer biografischen und prozessorientierten Längsschnittperspektive. Die Geflüchteten sehen sich der denkbar großen Aufgabe gegenüber, in einer herausfordernden Lebensphase und ausgestattet mit knappen Ressourcen einen Platz in einem gänzlich unbekannten Umfeld zu finden. Auf Basis von zwei narrativbiografischen Befragungswellen mit Geflüchteten aus Syrien wird gezeigt, dass sich bei diesen Suchprozessen vier typische Verlaufsmuster der Arbeitsmarktintegration herausbilden, die auf die Fluchtpunkte Exklusion, erwerbsbezogene Marginalisierung, Re-Normalisierung und Chancenorientierung zulaufen. Wir beleuchten Bedingungskonstellationen und Dynamiken, die den Arbeitsmarktintegrationsverläufen unterliegen und ihnen Dauerhaftigkeit verleihen. Abstract: Refugees’ Labour Market Trajectories in Germany – A Typology of Conditions and Dynamics Where do refugees stand with regard to their labor market integration five years after immigration? This article addresses this question from a biographical and process-oriented longitudinal perspective. In a turbulent life phase, refugees confront the challenging task of finding their economic positioning in a new environment. Based on two waves of narrative-biographical Interviews with Syrian refugees, we identify four typical trajectories of labor market integration: exclusion, employment-related marginalization, re-normalization, and a focus on opportunity. The article highlights factors and dynamics that underlie and perpetuate these integration trajectories.

Vocational Education and Youth Labor Market Integration

The transition from school to work is a crucial change young people experience during emerging adulthood, as the first steps taken into the labor market can influence future labor market careers and life prospects. One of the key responsibilities of education is to prepare students for the labor market, in which the vocational specificity of education systems is regarded as the central component in youth’s preparation for and allocation to the labor market. Despite many empirical studies examining the underlying mechanisms of the vocational impact of education on youth labor market integration, a review on this vast literature is lacking. Hence, in this chapter the authors provide a literature review on the role of vocational specificity in youth labor market integration, which operates through the individual level, study program level, and education system level. Moreover, a coherent system of indicators that measure vocational specificity at the three levels is provided.

Youth Work Transitions in the South of Europe

This chapter presents an in-depth review of the literature addressing the work transitions of emerging adults from the South of Europe (Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain). These countries were severely hit by the 2008 economic crisis, which strongly impacted youth facing labor market integration. For southern European youth, labor market integration remains as a key transition enabling engagement in other adult roles and responsibilities. To address the work transitions of young people from the South of Europe, the authors (a) outline the specifics of the Mediterranean context influencing these transitions; (b) look into the general patterns and timing of youth work transitions in these countries; and (c) discuss how such transition patterns and timing affect how emerging adults approach and live their lives, in particular how they navigate the ongoing, multiple, and interconnected transitions to adulthood. The chapter concludes by highlighting the impact changing, adverse social contexts have on the ways in which youth construct their pathways to work and adulthood.