Seeking Similarity: How Immigrants and Natives Manage at the Labor Market

Olof Åslund, Lena Hensvik and Oskar Skans

No 4640, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We show that immigrant managers are substantially more likely to hire immigrants than are native managers. The finding holds when comparing establishments in the same 5-digit industry and location, when comparing different establishments within the same firm, when analyzing establishments that change management over time, and when accounting for within-establishment trends in recruitment patterns. The effects are largest for small and owner-managed establishments in the for-profit sector. Separations are more frequent when workers and managers have dissimilar origin, but only before workers become protected by EPL. We also find that native managers are unbiased in their recruitments of former co-workers, suggesting that information deficiencies are important. We find no effects on entry wages. Our findings suggest that a low frequency of immigrant managers may contribute to the observed disadvantages of immigrant workers.

Keywords: workplace segregation; labor mobility; minority workers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J15 J21 J62 M51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2009-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab, nep-mig and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

Published - published in: Journal of Labor Economics, 2014, 32(3), 405–442

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Related works:
Journal Article: Seeking Similarity: How Immigrants and Natives Manage in the Labor Market (2014)
Working Paper: Seeking similarity: How immigrants and natives manage at the labor market (2009)
Working Paper: Seeking similarity: how immigrants and natives manage at the labor market (2009)
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