Immigrant–native pay gap driven by lack of access to high-paying jobs

Hermansen AS, Penner A, Boza I, Elvira MM, Godechot O, Hällsten M, Henriksen LF, Hou F, Lippényi Z, Petersen T, Reichelt M, Sabanci H, Safi M, Tomaskovic-Devey D, Vickstrom E (2025)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

Nature Nature Research

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09259-6

Abstract

Immigrants to high-income countries often face considerable and persistent difficulties in the labour market1, 2, 3, 4, 5–6, whereas their native-born children typically experience economic progress6, 7, 8–9. However, little is known about the extent to which these immigrant–native earnings differences stem from unequal pay when doing the same work for the same employer versus labour market processes that sort immigrants into lower-paid jobs. Here, using data from nine European and North American countries, we show that the segregation of workers with immigrant backgrounds into lower-paying jobs accounts for about three-quarters of overall immigrant–native earnings differences. Although within-job pay inequality remains notable for immigrants in several countries, our results demonstrate that unequal access to higher-paying jobs is the primary driver of the immigrant–native pay gap across a range of institutionally and demographically diverse contexts. These findings highlight the importance of policies aimed at reducing between-job segregation, such as language training10, 11, 12–13, job training13, 14–15, job search assistance programmes13,15, improving access to domestic education13,16,17, recognizing foreign qualifications18,19, and settlement programmes aimed at enhancing access to job-relevant information and networks13,20,21. Policies that target employer bias in hiring and promotion decisions are also likely to be effective, whereas measures aimed at ensuring equal pay for equal work may have more limited scope for further progress in closing the immigrant–native pay gap22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27–28.

Authors with CRIS profile

Malte Reichelt Lehrstuhl für Soziologie und Empirische Sozialforschung (Schwerpunkt Arbeitsmarktsoziologie)

Involved external institutions

United States Census Bureau (USCB) US United States (USA) (US) University of Oslo NO Norway (NO) University of California Irvine US United States (USA) (US) Hungarian Research Network (HUN-REN) HU Hungary (HU) Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) FR France (FR) Copenhagen Business School (CBS) DK Denmark (DK) Statistics Canada (StatCan) / Statistique Canada CA Canada (CA) University of Groningen / Rijksuniversiteit Groningen NL Netherlands (NL) University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) US United States (USA) (US) Frankfurt School of Finance & Management gGmbH DE Germany (DE) University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) US United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Hermansen, A.S., Penner, A., Boza, I., Elvira, M.M., Godechot, O., Hällsten, M.,... Vickstrom, E. (2025). Immigrant–native pay gap driven by lack of access to high-paying jobs. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09259-6

MLA:

Hermansen, Are Skeie, et al. "Immigrant–native pay gap driven by lack of access to high-paying jobs." Nature (2025).

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