There is widespread concern currently that some ethnic minority communities within Britain,especially Muslim, are not following the stereotypical immigrant path of economic andcultural assimilation into British society. Indeed, many seem to have the impression thatdifferences between Muslims and non-Muslims are widening. In this paper we compare thetwo largest Muslim communities in Britain (Pakistanis and Bangladeshis) with other ethnicminorities to ask the questions 'are Muslims different?' and 'is their behaviour changing overtime?' The indicators we look at are the gender gap in education, age at marriage,cohabitation and inter-marriage, fertility and the employment of women. In all thesedimensions we find that the Muslim communities are different but we also find evidence ofchange. This is partly because those born in Britain generally have markedly differentbehaviours from those born in the country of origin, but also because there is change withinboth the UK-born and foreign-born communities. The evidence suggests there is, alongalmost all dimensions, a movement towards convergence in behaviour.
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Paper provided by Centre for Economic Performance, LSE in its series CEP Discussion Papers with number
dp0903.
Find related papers by JEL classification: J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities and Races; Non-labor Discrimination J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
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