A study of immigrants’ employment careers in West Germany using the sequence analysis technique

This study examines immigrants’ employment careers and their (dis)similarity with careers of the native-born in West Germany. Applying the sequence analysis technique, the study shows that ethnic Germans born abroad and immigrants from EU-15 countries experience employment patterns more similar to those of native-born Germans than do other immigrant groups. The career paths of labor migrants from Turkey remain extremely dissimilar to those of Germans, even when differences in the age structure and the educational level are taken into account. Long and frequent unemployment are among the factors contributing to this dissimilarity. Immigrants, particularly Turks, are not only more likely to be long-term unemployed, they are also pushed into unskilled occupations. The second-generation immigrants, although displaying the strongest degree of similarity to the employment career patterns of native-born Germans, do not fully catch up with the socio-demographically comparable native-born when it comes to occupational assimilation.