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Intergenerational Mobility and the Earnings Position of First‐, Second‐, and Third‐Generation Immigrants

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  • Mats Hammarstedt

Abstract

Immigrants' labour market situation has been in the focus of research in economics as well as in other sciences, and the labour market situation of immigrants and their children (i.e. first‐ and second‐generation immigrants) is relatively well documented in many countries today. However, less attention has up to now been paid to the labour market and earnings situation among the grandchildren of immigrants, i.e. third‐generation immigrants. Against this background, this paper studies intergenerational earnings mobility and the earnings position of three generations of immigrants in Sweden. The results indicate a regression towards the native earnings mean in immigrant earnings across the first two generations in the sense that immigrants earn more than natives in the first generation while there are small ethnic earnings in the second generation. Furthermore, immigrants earn less than natives in the third generation. Thus, the results suggest a downward trend in immigrants' relative earnings across generations. One conclusion of the study is that ethnic differences in earnings may occur beyond the second generation of immigrants and that the problem with integration of immigrants therefore may last for several generations.

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  • Mats Hammarstedt, 2009. "Intergenerational Mobility and the Earnings Position of First‐, Second‐, and Third‐Generation Immigrants," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 275-292, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:62:y:2009:i:2:p:275-292
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6435.2009.00436.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Bird, Miriam & Wennberg, Karl, 2016. "Why family matters: The impact of family resources on immigrant entrepreneurs' exit from entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 687-704.
    2. Simone Moriconi & Giovanni Peri & Riccardo Turati, 2022. "Are Immigrants more Left leaning than Natives?," NBER Working Papers 30523, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Lina Aldén & Mats Hammarstedt, 2016. "Discrimination in the Credit Market? Access to Financial Capital among Self-employed Immigrants," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(1), pages 3-31, February.
    4. Lina Andersson & Mats Hammarstedt, 2011. "Transmission of self-employment across immigrant generations: the importance of ethnic background and gender," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 555-577, December.
    5. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht, 2011. "Migration and Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 327-439, Elsevier.
    6. Yaron Zelekha, 2013. "The Effect of Immigration on Entrepreneurship," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(3), pages 438-465, August.
    7. Sweetman, A. & van Ours, J.C., 2014. "Immigration : What About the Children and Grandchildren?," Discussion Paper 2014-009, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    8. Moriconi, Simone & Peri, Giovanni & Turati, Riccardo, 2023. "Are Immigrants More Left Wing than Natives?," IZA Discussion Papers 16164, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Zenou, Yves & Itoh, Ryo & Sato, Yasuhiro, 2021. "Intergenerational Assimilation of Minorities: The Role of the Majority Group," CEPR Discussion Papers 16830, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Susan Niknami, 2016. "Intergenerational transmission of education among female immigrants," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 715-744, September.
    11. Zeebari, Zangin & Shukur, Ghazi, 2009. "Developing Median Regression for SURE Models - with Application to 3-Generation Immigrants’ data in Sweden," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 183, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    12. Tufan, Pinar & Wendt, Hein, 2020. "Organizational identification as a mediator for the effects of psychological contract breaches on organizational citizenship behavior: Insights from the perspective of ethnic minority employees," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 179-190.
    13. Mats Hammarstedt & Mårten Palme, 2012. "Human capital transmission and the earnings of second-generation immigrants in Sweden," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-23, December.

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