Occupational and wage assimilation of immigrants in the Spanish labour market

The integration and assimilation of immigrants is a complex process that can lead to increased inequality if appropriate measures are not implemented. This paper focuses on Spain, a country without a strong tradition of migration that has received large flows in a short period. It examines the initial job insertion, occupational mobility and wage assimilation of immigrants from a gender perspective over a 15-year period. This extended period allows for a better understanding of this process, as immigrants gain sufficient work experience. Moreover, the results show whether new migrant-receiving countries reproduce similar patterns to those with a longer history of immigration. Using the Continuous Working Life Survey, mobility tables are constructed to study absolute and relative mobility. The evolution of the ratio between the average contribution bases of immigrants and natives over the period allows to analyse wage assimilation. The research concludes that immigrants occupy positions at the lower end of the occupational ladder and suffer a wage gap compared to natives, which is higher among men. The existence of a segmented labour market limits migrants' opportunities for upward occupational mobility and wage increases. Contrary to expectations, this wage gap narrows slowly with the length of residence, but persists over time.