Overqualification and Wage Penalties among Immigrants, Native Minorities, and Majority Ethnic Groups

Abstract

Immigrants and other disadvantaged minorities are likely to face different forms of penalties in the labor market including a greater risk and longer periods of unemployment, part-time work, temporary and lower paid jobs, and educational-occupational mismatch (hereafter occupational mismatch). This is true for immigrants and native minority groups in the United States (Iceland 1999, De Jong and Madamba 2001, Waters and Eschbach 1995), for immigrants and ethnic groups in the UK (Carmichael and Woods 2000, Li 2010, Platt 2011) and in other immigration countries (Heath, Rothon and Kilpi 2008, Kesler 2010, Münz 2004, Nielsen 2011).