When immigrants first enter the workforce, they are paid considerably less than native-born workers of the same age and gender. Their situation, however, does improve over time, thanks to their mobility within the labor market. This is one of the findings of a study published on Monday, November 3, by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which measured monthly wage disparities in about 15 countries, including France, Germany, Denmark, Spain, and the US. The research analyzed data on more than 7 million newly employed immigrants in the early 2000s, regardless of their primary region of origin – Latin America, Africa, Asia, or Europe.
Upon entering the job market, immigrants, on average, earned 34% less than native-born workers of the same age and gender. In France, the gap stood at 28%, the same as in Denmark and Portugal. It rose to 45% in Italy. The OECD sought to understand and break down the factors behind this income gap.
First, immigrants tended to be concentrated in lower-paying sectors, such as services (including security and cleaning), hospitality and catering, or agriculture. “And within those sectors, they are employed in less productive and smaller companies, which have a higher concentration of immigrants and pay less,” explained economist Ana Damas de Matos, one of the study’s three authors. She pointed out that “many workers find jobs thanks to recommendations and informal networks,” so immigrants naturally tend to work together and in workplaces “that do not discriminate against them in hiring.”
In the end, which sector and which company they work for accounted for two-thirds of the pay gap between natives and immigrants. This disadvantage was also linked to the fact that immigrants more frequently worked part-time – a situation often imposed on them, especially in France – and that within the same company, they held lower-paid jobs. Even when performing the same job in the same company, immigrants remained at a disadvantage. “There is a gap we are unable to explain, although we can assume it relates to factors such as seniority, experience, language proficiency, education level, or discrimination,” Damas de Matos added.
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