Access and quality of employment of recent immigration in Uruguay

Abstract

This article analyzes the characteristics of access and quality of employment of foreign immigrants arrived in Uruguay between 2007 and 2015. We compare immigrants’ performance to that of the non-migrant native-born and returnees, first using bivariate analysis, then by including migration status as a control in the estimation of binominal logistic regressions for the probability of employment, informality, and overqualification. The data used corresponds to the pooled cross-section Continuous Household Surveys for 2012-2015. Results show a systematic disadvantage of foreign-born population in the access to job opportunities, as well as in a higher risk of overqualification and informality among those already employed. Females have lower chances of being employed, but we did not find a negative effect of the double disadvantage female-immigrant regarding the quality of employment. Despite the fact that the duration of residence inhibits the adverse effect of immigration on employment, ovequalification and informality, its impact does not vanish for oldest immigrants.

Keywords immigration; return; educational mismatch; unemployment; informal employment