Competence and Contacts. The Relevance of Different Types of Social Relations for Establishment in the Labour Market for Young Persons of Immigrant Backgrounds.

Abstract

Studies of neighbourhood effects, school effects, ethnic networks, and other kinds of social contacts have shown that social environments and networks influence establishment and career in the labour market in different ways and, hence, may explain why newly arrived immigrants frequently face difficulty in becoming established in the labour market. The purpose of this project is to study the comparative importance of different kinds of social relations. Several types of social contexts are studied and put in contrast to each other; neighbourhoods, schools, workplaces, national and transnational ethnic networks, as well as formal competence and the situation in the labour market. Hence, the project takes into account both the characteristics of the individual and the opportunities and constraints of the context.

Keywords

Employment/Recruitment, Social capital/networks, Social exclusion/inclusion, Immigrant youth, Labor market careers

Publications

Klinthäll, M. & Urban, S. (2014a) The Strength of Ethnic Ties: Routes into the labour market in spaces of segregation. Urban studies OnlineFirst, p. 1-14. DOI: 10.1177/0042098014560498

Klinthäll, M. & Urban, S. (2014b) Second generation immigrants in the small business sector in Sweden. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies 12:3, p. 210-232.

Urban, Susanne (2013) Restaurant work-experience as stepping stone into the rest of labour market: Entries to and exits from the restaurant sector among young people of immigrant backgrounds in Sweden. Nordic Journal of Migration Research. 3(2), pp 100-109. DOI: 10.2478/v10202-012-0020-x

Urban, Susanne (2012) University Education as a Compensation Strategy among Second Generation Immigrants. International Migration Review. Vol 46, Issue 4, pp. 919-940.

Klinthäll, Martin & Urban, Susanne (2010). Köksingång till den svenska arbetsmarknaden? (Kitchen Entrance to the Swedish labor market?) in Ådahl, Martin (Ed.), Lyckad invandring. Stockholm: FORES, pp. 98-118. ISBN 978-91-978532-2-4 http://fores.se/assets/197/webb_lyckadinvandring.pdf

Klinthäll, Martin och Susanne Urban (2010). Kartläggning av företagande bland personer med utländsk bakgrund i Sverige. (Mapping entrepreneurship among persons of foreign backgrounds in Sweden) i Engstrand, Åsa-Karin (red) Möjligheternas marknad. En antologi om företagare med utländsk bakgrund. Stockholm, pp 107-130. Tillväxtverket. ISBN: 978-91

Urban, S. (2009) Is the Neighbourhood Effect an Economic or an Immigrant Issue? A Study of the Importance of the Childhood Neigbourhood for Future Integration into the Labour Market. Urban Studies, Vol 46(2009), 583 – 603.