Labor Market Performance of First-Generation Immigrants: Evidence from the Swiss Labor Force Survey

This paper is concerned with the analysis of the labor market performance of immigrants. In a first step, probit regressions on the unemployment probabilities for immigrants and natives are estimated for the pooled cross-section of 1991 and 1995. In a second step, the asymmetry in the sectoral distribution of immigrants compared to natives is assessed. The empirical results indicate that Swiss and males exhibit significantly lower unemployment probabilities than immigrants and females. Furthermore, immigrants from Non-European countries have not only a higher unemployment probability than natives, but also the largest asymmetry in the employment structure.