The Social Mobility of Immigrants and Their Children

Social mobility is central to immigrant integration. Since first-generation immigrants in Europe and North America typically experience downward mobility when they migrate, they are over-represented in low-skilled or low-earning jobs, in many cases despite high levels of education. With upward social mobility, however, immigrants can break out of their position at the bottom of the labor market – bringing strong social and economic benefits for both immigrant families and their communities. Immigrants' initial downward mobility is largely attributed to four factors: language barriers, differences in educational attainment, difficulties obtaining recognition for credentials and experience gained abroad, and problems accessing opportunities through social networks and other recruitment channels. Many of these obstacles can be overcome with time. However, analysts disagree on the speed and degree of labor market integration among the first generation, specifically, whether immigrants can make rapid gains in wages and employment rates and whether they are able to catch up with their native counterparts during their lifetimes. What is clear is that substantial differences exist between different groups, categorized by ethnicity or by country of origin. Some – such as Asians in the United States – eventually outperform native workers; while others – such as Moroccans in the Netherlands – show little sign of convergence with their native counterparts. The second generation – which in many countries represents a rapidly growing segment of the population – improves substantially on its parents' generation. This improvement occurs despite a number of obstacles to labor market and educational success, including low parental incomes, language barriers, residential segregation, difficulties accessing services, and discrimination. This improvement is insufficient, however, to allow all groups to catch up with the children of natives. In many countries, the second generation still performs worse in the labor market on average, and even in countries such as the United States, where it currently outperforms native workers, there is evidence of a downward trajectory. In many countries, second-generation children do not achieve the same levels of education as their non-immigrant peers, and this shortfall is partially responsible for differences in labor market performance. Again, differences exist by ethnic background or parents' country of origin, with immigrant groups that perform well in the first generation also tending to perform well in the second. This correlation between parents' and children's success means that the importance of selecting immigrants carefully extends well beyond the first generation. It also means that investments in …