EMPLOYMENT AND OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY AMONG IMMIGRANTS RECENTLY-ARRIVED TO THE HOST COUNTRY

The objective of this study was to analyze occupational mobility among Spanish immigrants according to two distinct trajectories: a) the first job obtained in Spain respect to the immigrant’s profession in the country of origin; b) current occupational status compared to the occupational status of the first job held in Spain. In this study we analyzed the situations of the labor market of men (with a strong presence of the construction industry) and women (jobs predominately available for domestic help). We focused our analysis on immigrants who arrived in Spain during the “immigration boom” (1997-2007). The source of the data we used was the National Survey on Immigration 2007. For our analysis we used occupational mobility charts and multi-variable models.
Results point to significant differences in occupational mobility between men and women. The construction industry plays a predominant role for men, acting as a magnet attracting occupational mobility both upward and downward. We observed a higher probability for downward occupational mobility for women, although a significant number of women who were housewives in their country of origin joined the labor market after immigrating. The main factors influencing occupational mobility once living in Spain were found to be length of residence, region of origin, networking, etc.