Winners and losers from occupational segregation across Europe: the role of gender and migration status

Abstract

Abstract Using measures rooted in welfare economics, this article quantifies the economic consequences arising from occupational segregation by gender and migration status in twelve European countries. We also identify the most inclusive European labor markets by building counterfactual distributions. In particular, we remove cross-country differences in immigrants’ origin, years of residence, and education, thus determining the contribution that these variables make to the geographical disparities. Our results reveal that the economic consequences of segregation are negative for most foreign workers, especially for immigrant women in Italy, Spain, Germany, and Slovenia. Portugal emerges as a reference point because immigrant workers have a better position compared to other countries, which does not seem to arise from their basic individual characteristics. Our analysis highlights the importance of policy actions aimed at improving the occupational sorting of immigrant workers, such as investing in skills development, avoiding occupational downgrading, and incorporating a gender perspective.