Abstract

This article focuses on two dimensions of labour market integration, sorting into different industries (niching) and sorting into workplace establishments (segregation) by share of migrant workers. We seek to understand to what degree these two dimensions of immigrants’ lack of labour market integration—niching and segregation—overlap with each other. The study is based on Finnish individual, panel and relational registry data, and we focus on the three largest immigrant groups—Estonians, Russians and Swedes—who have arrived from countries with different wealth levels to the Helsinki metropolitan area. By applying generalised structural equation modelling, we estimate industrial niching and workplace segregation—measured as a degree of overconcentration of immigrants in particular industries and workplace establishments, respectively—jointly. Our main findings show a strong overlap between niching and segregation for all ethnic groups. Segregation and niching levels are the highest among Estonians, but very similar for Russians and Swedes. These findings do not support the cultural similarity argument in immigrant labour market integration. Rather, immigration policy and origin country wealth level may be determinant. Additionally, we found that females are more likely than males to be employed simultaneously in niched industries and segregated workplace establishments, supporting the thesis of gender-based networks.

Highlights

  • Immigrant labour market integration is often seen as an important pathway for immigrants’ better inclusion in the host society (Tesfai, 2019; Tuccio, 2020)

  • Applying a threshold level of 1.5 implies that all migrant groups are working in niched and segregated workplaces, with levels of segregation being higher than levels of niching. 73% of migrants from Sweden are employed in segregated establishment and 42% of them are employed in the niched industry

  • Based on a study of Estonian, Swedish and Russian migrants in Finland, and controlling for sociodemographic characteristics of migrants and measures of integration, we find a strong and positive overlap between workplace segregation and industrial niching

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Summary

Introduction

Immigrant labour market integration is often seen as an important pathway for immigrants’ better inclusion in the host society (Tesfai, 2019; Tuccio, 2020). Previous research shows that both high levels of industrial niching and high levels of workplace segregation may negatively affect immigrant labour market integration associated with workplace segregation (Tomaskovic-Devey, Hällsten, & Avent-Holt, 2015) and niched employment (Gleave, 2017). Migrants who work both in segregated workplaces and in industrial niches are the most isolated in the host country’s labour market and as a consequence, such isolation brings wage penalties (Catanzarite & Aguilera, 2002). This is an important knowledge gap since various dimensions of immigrant integration tend to be related (Tammaru, van Ham, Marcińczak, & Musterd, 2015)

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