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Ethnic minority immigrants and their children in Britain

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  • Christian Dustmann
  • Nikolaos Theodoropoulos

Abstract

This paper investigates educational attainment and economic performance of ethnic minority immigrants and their children in Britain, in comparison to white British born. We find that ethnic minority immigrants and their children are on average better educated in comparison to their British born white peers. Educational attainment of British born minorities is far higher than that of their parent generation, and supersedes that of their white native born peers. Despite this, British born ethnic minorities exhibit on average lower employment probabilities. Their mean wages appear to be slightly higher than those of their white native born peers, but this is due to their higher educational attainment and their concentration in Greater London. Mean wages would be considerably lower for the same characteristics and the same regional allocation. Differences in wage offers do not explain employment differences of British born ethnic minorities. We discuss possible alternative explanations. Copyright 2010 Oxford University Press 2010 All rights reserved, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Dustmann & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos, 2010. "Ethnic minority immigrants and their children in Britain," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 62(2), pages 209-233, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:62:y:2010:i:2:p:209-233
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General

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