The Effect of Ethnic Identity on the Employment of Immigrants

Abstract

This study evaluates the effect of ethnic identity on the employment level of immigrants in Greece. Treating ethnic identity as a composite of key cultural elements the estimations suggest that employment is positively associated with assimilation and integration and negatively associated with separation and marginalization. In all cases, assimilation provides the highest employment returns, whilst, marginalization provides the highest employment losses. This study adds to the literature by setting up hypotheses, and directly measuring immigrants' ethnic identity commitments. The current results have potentially important implications for post-immigration policies indicating that assimilation and integration policies may be beneficial in terms of labor market outcomes.

Keywords: employment, ethnic identity

JEL Classification: F22, J15, J16, Z10