Beyond ethnic penalties in occupational attainment: Empirical evidence on native–immigrant inequalities in individual workplace experiences

Although native–immigrant gaps in tangible labor market outcomes such as wages have been widely studied, people's experiences at work are also crucial for their wellbeing. This article considers two generic sources of native–immigrant differentials in desirable individual workplace experiences, especially job autonomy. Following the occupational segregation literature, the first is that foreign-borns and natives are recruited to do different types of jobs. This results in native–immigrant interoccupational segregation. The second is that, once employed in a particular occupation, natives and immigrants are assigned different tasks and subject to different working conditions. This results in intraoccupational segregation and differences between immigrants and natives employed in the same occupation. The empirical analysis involves large-scale individual-level cross-national survey data and focuses on job autonomy as a chief individual workplace experience. I find strong evidence of both inter- and intraoccupational segregation, with the former being the largest source of the observed immigrant–native job autonomy gap. Results are similar when considering other individual workplace experiences with a quality trait such as job satisfaction. I conclude that the ethnic labor market penalty extends beyond tangible job features to individuals’ experiences in their places of work.