The Employment Gap between immigrants and natives in European countries : The importance of integration policy and origin

Abstract: We study the employment gap between immigrants and natives in 16 European countries and the effect of integration policies and country of origin. In this paper, we want to answer 3 main questions. First, is there employment gap between natives and immigrants? Using the European Social Survey, we found that employment gap exists for both male and female immigrants compare to natives because of their characteristics are different from natives. Second, how do various integration policies affect the employment probability of immigrants? Using Migration Integration Policy Index, the result shows that some integration policies are beneficial to immigrants but some are not. Lastly, how do various countries of origin characteristics affect the employment probability of immigrants? Using data from the World Bank and the United Nation Development Program, we found that Human development index and labor force participation rate of the origin country affects immigrants in positive effects of probability of being employed.