Blocked Mobility or Unemployment Risk? Labour Market Transitions of Natives and Immigrants in Switzerland

Laganà, Francesco (2011). Blocked Mobility or Unemployment Risk? Labour Market Transitions of Natives and Immigrants in Switzerland. International journal of comparative sociology, 52(4), pp. 327-349. Sage Publications 10.1177/0020715211412115

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Cross-sectional literature has shown that in Switzerland as elsewhere immigrants are more penalized than the native-born population both considering the unemployment risk and their position in the employment structure. Using a longitudinal framework, the present article focuses on a comparison between male immigrants and natives in the Swiss labour market, analysing two risks: the risk of unemployment and the risk of entrapment in unskilled occupations. In the first part of the article, using a dynamic random effect models, we show that immigrants present less state dependence than natives considering both unemployment and the risk of entrapment in unskilled positions. In the second part, using Heckman selection models, we show that less state dependence of immigrants corresponds to a higher mobility towards the skilled working class that is limited to the secondary labour market. We explain these differences with the interplay of Swiss labour market characteristics, in particular, the need for high flexibility and the positive selection of immigrants whose access to the Swiss labour market is generally realized through the bottom of employment structure.

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