Ethnic Penalty, Gender Gap, and the Role of Integration Policies in Migrants’ Labour Market Inclusion in Western Europe

This paper analyses the role of gender, in combination with integration policies, in influencing the integration of migrants in the labour market. It addressed this topic by looking at the gap between migrants and non-migrants. Research consistently shows that migrants are at a disadvantage compared to non-migrants when it comes to their labour market inclusion. Literature also demonstrated that there is a gender gap. However, existing studies do not clarify whether the gender gap apply also to the employment gap between migrants and non-migrants, and the role of integration policies. To address these topics, we combine data individual-level data from the Labour Force Survey (EU LFS) on the employment status and quality of employment of migrants and non-migrants, and data on migrant integration policies from the MIPEX (Migrant Integration Policy Index) project. We find that, after controlling for differences in human capital and socio-demographic characteristics, the ethnic penalty and the gender gap are confirmed. We also find that there is a gender gap in ethnic penalty: the ethnic penalty on employment is greater for female migrants (compared to female non-migrants) than for male migrants (compared to male non-migrants). In addition, migrant integration polices are associated with higher ethnic penalty concerning both employment and quality of employment, but only for men. However, migrant integration polices are associated with lower gender gaps among migrants.