Occupational Status Attainment and Intergenerational Transmission of Occupational Status among Surinamese in Suriname and Surinamese abroad

This paper examines occupational status attainment and intergenerational occupational status transmission among 2,302 Surinamese men and women abroad (aged 25-64) as compared to their 14,310 brothers and sisters – nearest in age – who have remained in Suriname. The research is an example of an origins-of-migration design – in which a comparison is made between migrants and non-migrants in the country of origin –, extended with a sibling-design, that can control measured and unmeasured origin family effects. The data are assembled from five general population sample surveys, collected between 1992 and 2023. International migration has caused substantial upward intergenerational mobility among Surinamese abroad. For men, the strong upward mobility of migrants is entirely explained by educational selectivity, but not for women. Both men and women experience lower occupational returns on education abroad than in Suriname and this perverse effect of international migration is particularly sharp for women.