Los efectos de la inmigración en la movilidad social en la Unión Europea : ¿frena o acelera?

Abstract

This paper aims at assessing the amount of intergenerational social mobility experienced by migrants in Europe and the effects of immigration on European countries’ overall intergenerational mobility. In line with existing studies, we formulate a micro- and a macro-level hypothesis: 1. Immigrants are over-represented among the downwardly mobile, especially if from Central-Eastern Europe and non-EU countries; 2. Immigration enhances intergenerational social mobility rates in receiving societies. The micro hypothesis assumes that migrants downgrade their occupational standing in the receiving society in return for higher earnings. The macro hypothesis is predicated on the fact that newly arriving workers from abroad tend to fill employment slots at the bottom of the occupational pyramid and thus ‘push’ nationals up. A third hypothesis posits that the impact of downward mobility is subjectively less severe among migrants. These hypotheses are tested using six pooled waves of ESS (2002-2012) which include social mobility data as well as information on the migrant status of respondents. We use both ISEI and EGP class schema to model intergenerational social mobility. The analyses converge as regards the micro-hypothesis, but diverge about the overall effect of migration rates on intergenerational mobility, even when factoring in the educational composition and skill complementarity of the immigrant workforce. The hypothesis on the impact of downward mobility on migrants’ life satisfaction is also not supported by evidence.