Employment and Education–Occupation Mismatches of Immigrants and Their Children in the Netherlands: Comparisons with the Native Majority Group
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Social Inclusion (ISSN: 2183–2803) 2018, Volume 6, Issue 3, Pages 119–141 DOI: 10.17645/si.v6i3.1452 Article Employment and Education–Occupation Mismatches of Immigrants and their Children in the Netherlands: Comparisons with the Native Majority Group Yassine Khoudja European Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations, Utrecht University, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands; E-Mail: [email protected] Submitted: 28 February 2018 | Accepted: 21 May 2018 | Published: 30 July 2018 Abstract This study examines the labor market integration of immigrants and their children in the Netherlands focusing on em- ployment and over- and underqualification. Using data from the first wave of the Netherlands Longitudinal Life-Course Study (NELLS), the analysis shows disadvantages in employment probabilities for men and women from different foreign origin groups compared to the Dutch majority even after accounting for differences in human capital. Ethnic differences in employment probabilities are lower, but still visible, when comparing only respondents who obtained post-secondary ed- ucation in the Netherlands. Further, first-generation immigrant men from Turkey and Morocco are at higher risk of being overeducated than Dutch majority men whereas this is not the case for second generation men and first- and second- generation minority women. Substantial ethnic difference in the likelihood of being undereducated are not prevalent. Having a foreign compared to a Dutch degree is related to lower labor market outcomes, but this negative relation is more pronounced for women than for men. Finally, there is some indication that overeducation is somewhat less common in the public sector than in the private sector, but minorities do not benefit more from this than the Dutch majority. Keywords employment; immigrant integration; overeducation; public sector; returns to education; the Netherlands; undereducation Issue This article is part of the issue “The Race for Highly-Skilled Workers”, edited by Neli Demireva (University of Essex, UK) and Ivana Fellini (University of Milano Bicocca, Italy). © 2018 by the author; licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribu- tion 4.0 International License (CC BY). 1. Introduction The ethnic disadvantage of Turks and Moroccans in the Dutch labor market is often explained by their Immigrants’ economic success is often considered to be lower educational achievements compared to the Dutch one of the key conditions for a successful integration majority (Becker, 1975; Bevelander & Veenman, 2004). into the receiving-society. Nevertheless, many immigrant But typically, substantial ethnic gaps in employment groups, especially those with a non-Western origin, are rates remain even once educational achievements are ac- often disadvantaged in the European labor markets. In counted for (Heath, Rothon, & Kilpi, 2008). One of the the Netherlands, Turks and Moroccans are two of the reasons for these ethnic disadvantages may be that im- most disadvantaged groups (Crul & Doomernik, 2003). migrants face lower marginal returns for their education They are less likely to be employed, more likely to work than the native majority population (Chiswick & Miller, in low-paid jobs, jobs with temporary contracts (Wit- 2008, 2009). Studies in other countries have shown that teveen & Alba, 2017) and non-prestigious positions (Gra- education received abroad or prior to immigration is less cia, Vázquez-Quesada, & van de Werfhorst, 2016) than rewarded in terms of finding employment or earnings the Dutch majority. than education obtained in the receiving country (Fried- Social Inclusion, 2018, Volume 6, Issue 3, Pages 119–141 119 berg, 2000). In line with this observation is that immi- immigrants’ labor market trajectories and occupational grants are also more likely to experience mismatches be- choices by gender (Baker & Benjamin, 1997; Blau, Kahn, tween their education and the occupational level of their Moriarty, & Souza, 2003). current job than the native majority population (Aleksyn- ska & Tritah, 2013). Overeducation means working in a 2. Theoretical Background position that requires education below one’s own high- est achieved educational degree, whereas undereduca- 2.1. Immigrants in the Netherlands tion means having a lower education than required for one’s occupational position. Overeducated employees The two largest immigrant groups in the Netherlands may feel insufficiently challenged and unsatisfied with from non-Western countries are Turks and Moroccans. their occupational situation (Fleming & Kler, 2008). Fur- Including the second generation, there were about thermore, while earning more than those lower edu- 400,000 Turks and 389,000 Moroccans in the Nether- cated in the same occupation, they still earn less than lands in 2016 and, together, they make up about 5% of their equally educated counterparts in jobs that match the Dutch population (Huijnk & Andriessen, 2016). Turks their education level (Hartog, 2000). Undereducated em- and Moroccans arrived in the Netherlands over the last ployees earn less than appropriately educated individu- couple of decades (starting in the 1960s) as work and als doing the same job (Hardoy & Schøne, 2014). Ethnic family migrants. Most of them arrived as low-educated differences in the occurrence of over- and undereduca- workers to fill in low-skilled occupations in a booming tion may, therefore, corroborate the ethnic stratification economy. The low socio-economic background of those of society. Education-occupation mismatches can also immigrants is still reflected today in their disadvantaged be viewed as an inefficient use of human capital on the labor market position and the lower educational achieve- societal-level. Overeducated individuals could be more ment of their children compared to children with Dutch- productive in jobs that require more professional skills. origin parents (van de Werfhorst & van Tubergen, 2007; Undereducation implies a lost opportunity given that in- Witteveen & Alba, 2017). Even though support for tradi- dividuals with high abilities appear to have not received tional norms are also relatively strong among Turkish and the appropriate level of education. Moroccan immigrants, second generation women tend Using the first wave of the Netherlands Longitudi- to perform somewhat better on the labor market than nal Life-Course Study (NELLS), this study examines ethnic their male counterparts, particularly among Moroccans gaps in labor market outcomes in the Netherlands with (Crul & Doomernik, 2003). There are also important dif- the Dutch majority as a reference group. Two recent pa- ferences between Turks and Moroccans in the Nether- pers have also used the NELLS to compare labor market lands. Most notably, the Turkish community is often de- outcomes of second-generation Turks and Moroccans in scribed as more cohesive than the Moroccan one (Crul & the Netherlands (Gracia et al., 2016; Witteveen & Alba, Doomernik, 2003; Huijnk & Andriessen, 2016). Turks par- 2017). Both papers show that once differences in hu- ticipate more in ethnic organizations and have more co- man capital are accounted for, second generation Turks ethnic ties than Moroccans (Michon & Vermeulen, 2013). and Moroccans are disadvantaged at early stages of la- Perhaps as a consequence of the dense ethnic network, bor market trajectories (i.e., employment and employ- Turks are somewhat less proficient in Dutch than Moroc- ment conditions) but less disadvantaged when it comes cans, and their children lack behind in terms of educa- to their occupational prestige measured by the Interna- tional attainment compared to children from the other tional Socio-Economic Index (ISEI). Non-Western immigrant groups (Huijnk & Andriessen, This article also looks at ethnic gaps in employment, 2016). On the labor market, the Turks’ dependence on though for the first and second generation. Its main con- co-ethnic ties may impede employment chances and ac- tribution to the earlier studies is its focus on ethnic gaps cess to jobs with higher occupational status (Lancee, in overeducation and undereducation. The analysis will 2010), which may ultimately result in a higher occurrence pay particular attention to the role of returns to edu- of overeducation compared to the other ethnic minor- cation of foreign degrees compared to Dutch degrees ity groups. for ethnic gaps in labor market outcomes, addressing Two other large non-Western immigrant groups in the question whether foreign degrees are differently re- the Netherlands are Surinamese and Antilleans. These lated to labor market outcomes between varying origin immigrants started to arrive in the Netherlands as post- groups. In addition, the study will examine whether eth- colonial migrants about a decade earlier than the guest- nic patterns in education-occupation mismatches differ workers and still migrate today (though in substantially between the public and the private sector. Where sam- smaller numbers than in the 1960s and 70s). Surinamese ple size allows it, I distinguish between the first and and Antilleans in the Netherlands tend to have on aver- second generation in the analysis as causes for disad- age higher educational levels and are more likely to work vantages in the labor market may vary between these in higher-skilled jobs than Turks and Moroccans, but they two groups (Portes & Zhou, 1993). Furthermore, analy- still do worse than the Dutch majority in the educational ses will be conducted separately for men