Migrant-Native Labour Inequality across Cities. Does Size Really Matter?

Jacobo Munoz-Comet , Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED)
Fernando Fernández-Monge, Harvard Bloomberg City Leadership Initiative

In the last decades Spain has experienced a process of urban concentration of its population, particularly in the larger cities. The literature explains this phenomenon, among other reasons, due to the advantages in terms of employment offered by big cities. Yet, studies on whether these benefits differ depending on the country of birth scarce. This article analyses to what extent the labour inequality between immigrants and natives varies according to the size of the municipality and, if so, whether it is related with compositional reasons. Based on the Spanish General Social Survey, conducted by the CIS in 2013 and 2015, results confirm a different migrant-native gap across cities. Immigrants do not face a higher risk of unemployment in medium-large cities, however, their net disadvantage in terms of occupational attainment increases the larger the municipality is. Sociodemographic factors are not enough to explain the different gaps depending on city’s population size.

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 Presented in Session P3. Poster Session Migration, Economics, Environment, Methods, History and Policy