Does the Apple Fall Far from the Grafted Tree? Educational and Labor Market Outcomes of Immigrant Children Born to Mixed Couples in France

Dominique Meurs , University of Paris Nanterre
Ariane Pailhé, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

Intermarried immigrants are more successful in the labor market than no-intermarried immigrants couples. Are these advantages being replicated in the next generation? Are the descendants of mixed couples in a better position due to the presence of a parent from the majority group compared to those from an immigrant couple? We use the 2005 to 2017 French Labor force surveys and compare educational and labor market outcomes of 5 groups: natives, descendants of two Maghrebi parents, descendants of a native and a parent from Maghreb, descendants of two parents from Southern Europe, descendants of a native parent and parent from Southern Europe. The descendants of Maghreb parents reach significantly less the higher levels of education than the other groups, while the descendants of mixed parents have slightly higher performances. But this result is reversed when the social origins of the parents are taken into account. Maghrebi descendants of non-mixed parents have the highest probability of being unemployed and the lowest probability of being employed, even after taking into account their education and the social characteristics of the parents. The group of descendants from Southern Europe (mixed and non mixed) do not differ significantly from the natives once all the characteristics are taken into account. Being born into a mixed couple may not be an advantage for success in the school system, perhaps because of educational dissonances. It is an advantage for integration into the labor market, either through the use of more efficient networks or through less discrimination in hiring.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session 76. Children of Immigrants