Socio-economic Background and Early Post-compulsory Education Pathways: A Comparison between Natives and Second-generation Immigrants in Switzerland

Abstract

This article investigates the differences in post-compulsory education pathways between natives and second-generation immigrants in Switzerland. It analyses to which extent the socioeconomic background explains the different post-compulsory education trajectories of children of Swiss and second-generation immigrants. Using data from the Transition from Education to Employment survey (TREE), we use Optimal Matching Analysis to identify typical transitions encompassing the 7 years that follow the end of compulsory school and logistic regression to analyse the differences between native-born children and second-generation immigrants. In the first part of the article, we show that second-generation immigrants from low-skilled waves of migration are more likely to follow lower vocational tracks and to have an early transition into working class occupations. We also find that second-generation immigrants present higher likelihood of transition into 'Not in education, employment, or training' (NEET). In the second part of the article, we show that the early transition into working class occupations is entirely explained by socioeconomic factors. We also demonstrate that, for the children of Portuguese, former-Yugoslav, Albanian, and Turkish immigrants, the socioeconomic background plays a minor role in explaining the transitions into NEET. In this case, a disadvantage persists even after socioeconomic background is taken into account in the model.

Migrant Status and Lone Motherhood – Risk Factors of Female Labour Force Participation in Switzerland

“…On average, migrant women are more likely than non-migrant women to be in full-time employment when they work, and to be dependent on social welfare (Liebig et al 2012). This is also the case in Switzerland, a country with an extremely diversified foreign-born population in terms of geographical origin, socio-economic position, and migration trajectory (Afonso 2004;Fibbi and Wanner 2009;Laganà et al 2014). At the time of writing, the largest immigrant group in Switzerland is from Italy, followed by groups from Germany, Portugal, and the former Yugoslavia (FSO 2015).…”

“…Differences in the labour market positions of natives and migrants tend to fade among second-generation migrants (Guarin and Rousseaux forthcoming). Other studies emphasize variation by country of origin though (Laganà et al 2014).…”

“…Finally, we consider what role individual and household characteristics play in shaping the differences between lone mothers and mothers in couples, as well as between migrants and non-migrants: if there are any differences in the employment patterns of the respective groups, we expect to find that they are smaller when we control for the composition of these groups; i.e., for the socio-economic characteristics of the mother and the household characteristics (H4) (Laganà et al 2014). …”

Introduction: Situating Children of Migrants Across Borders and Origins

“…In Elder's research, children are distinguished according to their "starting position" (Giele 2009: 251), i.e., whether they were children during the Great Depression or just before (Elder 1999). In the case of children of immigrants, this starting position can be related to their origin, their foreigner status, or their belonging to ethnic minorities; such starting position may be held from birth or acquired at the moment of arrival in the host country (Heath and Brinbaum 2007;Lagana et al 2013). It can be also related to the social or geographical space and context where they are living during childhood, with its environment and opportunity structure (a suburban neighborhood, for example).…”

“…The successive steps lead to a process of cumulative advantages or disadvantages across the life course. This type of data collection can be mobilized to analyze the path dependency that structures the life course from the starting position and status of being children of immigrants and to show the chain that links this starting position to adolescent and young-adulthood trajectories in the life domains of school, work, and family (Lagana et al 2013).…”