Employment Assimilation of Immigrants in the Netherlands: Catching Up and the Irrelevance of Education

28 Pages Posted: 16 Jun 2008

See all articles by Aslan Zorlu

Aslan Zorlu

University of Amsterdam

Joop Hartog

University of Amsterdam - Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB); Tinbergen Institute; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Abstract

Using two Dutch labour force surveys, employment assimilation of immigrants is examined. We observe marked differences between immigrants by source country. Non-western immigrants never reach parity with native Dutch. Even second generation immigrants never fully catch up. Caribbean immigrants, who share a colonial history with the Dutch, assimilate relatively quick compared to other non-western immigrants but they still suffer from high unemployment. The study also documents that the quality of jobs is significantly lower for immigrants, especially for those who are at larger cultural distance to Dutch society. Job quality of immigrants increases with the duration of stay but again, does not reach parity with natives. The western immigrants seem to face no considerable difficulties in the Dutch labour market. The most remarkable conclusion is the irrelevance of education for socio-economic position of immigrants once the country of origin has been controlled for.

Keywords: immigrants, employment, unemployment, job quality

JEL Classification: J15, J21, J24

Suggested Citation

Zorlu, Aslan and Hartog, Joop, Employment Assimilation of Immigrants in the Netherlands: Catching Up and the Irrelevance of Education. IZA Discussion Paper No. 3534, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1145913 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1145913

Aslan Zorlu (Contact Author)

University of Amsterdam ( email )

Spui 21
Amsterdam, 1018 WB
Netherlands

Joop Hartog

University of Amsterdam - Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) ( email )

Roetersstraat 11
Amsterdam, 1018 WB
Netherlands

Tinbergen Institute

Burg. Oudlaan 50
Rotterdam, 3062 PA
Netherlands

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
95
Abstract Views
1,209
Rank
495,746
PlumX Metrics