Career Progression of Immigrant Women Across Europe

Alicia Adsera , Princeton University
Ana Ferrer, University of Waterloo
Virginia Herranz, University of Alcala de Henares

We study the job progression of immigrant women in five European countries: France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the UK. We combine data from the European Labour Force Survey (2005-2015), with information about skills required in jobs from O*Net. We focus on analytical and strength skills required in immigrant´s jobs compared to those of similar native women. At arrival immigrants have lower participation than natives, but gradually increase it during the first ten years in destination --1% annually in Spain, Italy and the UK, and 2% and 4 % in France and Sweden. Jobs of recent immigrants have lower analytical skill content and larger strength requirement than those of natives across all destinations. Significant differences across origins and within destinations appear over the period of analysis consistent with the business cycle faced by migrants at arrival – such as meager opportunities in the aftermath of the great recession.

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 Presented in Session 211. Female Schooling, Employment, and Demography