Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Are Residential and Workplace Concentration Correlated for Immigrants? Evidence for Sweden

  • Published:
Journal of International Migration and Integration Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In immigrant-receiving countries, immigrants are often concentrated in residential neighbourhoods with high concentrations of immigrants. In addition, they are concentrated in workplaces with high concentrations of immigrants. Many researchers have assumed that these are two sides of the same coin, so that policy affecting residential segregation could be expected to influence workplace segregation. Using Swedish register data for 2007, we directly assess whether immigrants who live in residential neighbourhoods concentrated with immigrants also work in firms concentrated with immigrants. We find that there is very little correlation between residential and workplace segregation, suggesting that policy could profitably target both types of segregation separately.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Our measure of neighbourhoods is based on Statistics Swedens Small Areas for Market Statistics groupings and is a division based on sub-divisions in larger municipalities and on electoral districts in the smaller municipalities. There are around 9200 SAMS areas across Sweden (Statistics Sweden 2014).

References

  • Akbari, A., & Aydede, Y. (2011). Are educational credentials for immigrant and non-immigrant workers perfect substitutes in Canadian labour markets; a production function analysis. Education Economics, 19(1), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen, H. S. (2010). Spatial assimilation in Denmark? Why do immigrants move to and from multi-ethnic neighbourhoods? Housing Studies, 25(3), 281–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersson, L., & Hammarstedt, M. (2012). “Ethnic enclaves, networks and self-employment among middle eastern immigrants in Sweden,” International Migration, 1-14.

  • Barth, E., Bratsberg, B., & Raaum, O. (2012). Immigrant wage profiles within and between establishments. Labour Economics, 19(4), 541–556.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beckhusen, J., et al. (2013). “Living and working in ethnic enclaves: English Language proficiency of immigrants in US metropolitan areas.” Papers in Regional Science, 92.2, 305–328.

  • Bernabé Aguilera, M. (2009). Ethnic enclaves and the earnings of self-employed Latinos. Small Business Economics, 33, 413–425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bevelander, P. (2010). “Sweden: The immigration and integration experience: the case of Sweden”. In U. A. Segal, D. Elliott, & N. S. Mayadas (Eds.), Immigration worldwide, policies, practices, and trends. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bevelander, P., & Pendakur, R. (2012). Citizenship, co-ethnic populations and employment probabilities of immigrants in Sweden. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 13(2), 203–222.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolt, G., Ozuekren, A. S., & Phillips, D. (2010). Linking integration and residential segregation. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 36(2), 169–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonacich, E., & Model, J. (1980a). The economic basic of ethnic solidarity. Berkeley: University of California Press.

  • Bonacich, E., & Modell, J. (1980b). The economic basis of ethnic solidarity: Small business in the Japanese American community. Berkeley: University of California Press.

  • Breton, R. (1974). Ethnic stratification viewed from three theoretical perspectives. In J. E. Curtis & W. Scott (Eds.), Social stratification: Canada (2nd ed.). Toronto: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Card, D. (2009). “How immigration affects U.S. cities”. In R. P. Inman (Ed.), Making cities work: Policies and prospects for urban America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, C. (2004). Beyond Miami: the ethnic enclave and personal income in various cuban communities in the United States. International Migration Review, 38(2), 450–469.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edin, P., Fredriksson, P., & Aslund, O. 2003. “Ethnic enclaves and the economic success of immigrants – evidence from a natural experiment,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 329-357.

  • Gilbertson, G., & Gurak, D. (1993). Broadening the enclave debate: the labour market experiences of Dominican and Columbian men in New York City. Sociological Forum, 8(2), 205–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grönqvist, H. (2006). Ethnic enclaves and the attainments of immigrant children. European Sociological Review, 22(4), 369–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, J., et al. (2010). Wages and immigrant occupational composition in Sweden. IZA working paper # 4823.

  • Hedberg, C., & Tammaru, T. (2012). ”Neighborhood effects and city effects: the entry of newly arrived immigrants into the labour market,” Urban Studies online edition October 26, 2012.

  • Hiebert, D. (2009). Exploring minority enclave areas in Montréal, Toronto, and Vancouver, citizenship and immigration Canada monograph http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2011/cic/Ci4-30-2010-eng.pdf.

  • Iceland, J. (2009). Where we live now: Immigration and race in the United States. University of California Press, 2009.

  • Kaplan, D., & Douzet, F. (2011). Research in ethnic segregation iii: Segregation outcomes. Urban Geography, 32(4), 589–605.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Light, I. (1984). Immigrant and ethnic enterprise in North America. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 7, 195–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Musterd, S., & Andersson, R. (2006). Employment, social mobility and neighbourhood effects: Case of Sweden. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 30(1), 120–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Musterd, S., Andersson, R., Galster, G., & Kauppinen, T. (2008). Are immigrants’ earnings influenced by the character of their neighbours?”. Environment and Planning, 40, 785–805.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pendakur, K., & Pendakur, R. (2002). "Speaking in tongues: Language knowledge as human capital and ethnicity" international migration review. Spring, 36(1), 147–178.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pendakur, K., & Woodcock, S. (2010). 2010 "glass ceilings or glass doors: Wage disparity within and between firms". Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 28(1), 181–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Portes, A., & Jensen, L. (1989). The enclave and the entrants: Patterns of ethnic enterprise in Miami before and after Mariel. American Sociological Review, 54(6), 929–949.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Portes, A., & Jensen, L. (1992). Disproving the enclave hypothesis: Reply. American Sociological Review, 57(3), 418–420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raaum, O., Salvanes, K., & Sørensen, E. (2006). The neighbourhood is not what it used to be. The Economic Journal, 116(1), 278–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanders, J., & Nee, V. (1987). Limits of ethnic solidarity in the enclave economy”. American Sociological Review, 52, 745–773.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Statistics Sweden. (2014). Statistics Sweden’s market profiles. Stockholm: Statistics Sweden.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strömgren, M., Tammaru, T., van Ham, M., Marcinczak, S., Stjernström, O., & Lindgren, U. (2014). Factors shaping workplace segregation between natives and immigrants”. Demography, 51(2), 645–671.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waldinger, R. (1993). The ethnic enclave debate revisited. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 17(3), 444–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, K., & Portes, A. (1980). Immigrant enclaves: an analysis of the labor market experiences of Cubans in Miami. American Journal of Sociology, 86, 295–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie, Y., & Gough, M. (2011). Ethnic enclaves and the earnings of immigrants. Demography, 48, 1293–1315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, M., & Logan, J. (1989). Returns on human capital in ethic enclaves: New York City’s Chinatown. American Sociological Review, 54(5), 809–820.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada

    Krishna Pendakur

  2. Department of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

    Ravi Pendakur

  3. Malmö Institute of Migration, Diversity and Welfare, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden

    Pieter Bevelander

Authors
  1. Krishna Pendakur
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ravi Pendakur
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Pieter Bevelander
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Krishna Pendakur.

Appendix: Complete Regression Results

Appendix: Complete Regression Results

Table 6 Immigrant concentration, without place-of-birth controls
Full size table
Table 7 Immigrant concentration, with place-of-birth controls
Full size table
Table 8 Place-of-birth concentration, without place-of-birth controls
Full size table
Table 9 Place-of-birth concentration, with place-of-birth controls
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pendakur, K., Pendakur, R. & Bevelander, P. Are Residential and Workplace Concentration Correlated for Immigrants? Evidence for Sweden. Int. Migration & Integration 17, 687–706 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-015-0430-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-015-0430-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation