Differences in the skill distributions of immigrant-background and native workers are key to understand ethnic inequality in the labor market. Yet, little is known about of how skill profiles change over time and across immigrant generations. In this chapter, we examine the role of skill profiles for the occupational sorting of immigrants and their local-born descendants in the Norwegian labor market. Distinguishing between different occupational skill dimensions, we find a clear pattern of intergenerational assimilation in skill profiles among immigrants from different regions of origin. The pattern of reduced skill differentials in the second generation is particularly pronounced among those origin groups that are most disadvantaged in the immigrant generation (Eastern European and non-European). This intergenerational convergence in occupational skill profiles between immigrants and natives is broadly consistent with theories of assimilation that expect socioeconomic progress over time and across immigrant generations.
A Research Agenda for Skills and Inequality
Skeie Hermansen, A., Horgen Friberg, J., & H. Midtbøen, A. (2023). "Chapter 9: Occupational skills, ethnic stratification, and labor market assimilation across immigrant generations". In A Research Agenda for Skills and Inequality. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800378469.00015
