Table 6.1 contains the means for the main variables used in the analyses. The variables are divided into four groups: immigration characteristics, background characteristics, qualifica-tions from the home and destination countries, respectively, and finally employment status in 2006.
Table 6.1 Descriptive statistics by country of origin. Means
Variable All Pakistan Iran Turkey
Immigration characteristics:
Arrived before 1990 0.427 0.279 0.553 0.360
Arrived 1990-2000 0.572 0.721 0.447 0.639
Refugee 0.360 0.043 0.748 0.042
Family reunification, spouse 0.503 0.765 0.230 0.694
Family reunification, parent 0.132 0.191 0.020 0.250
Age at immigration 23.959 24.137 25.289 21.894
Years since immigration 14.766 13.322 16.003 14.093
Unemployment, year of arrival 8.477 8.366 8.501 8.527
Background characteristics:
The table shows that the general migration history described in section three is reflected in our sample: Turks have a longer history of migration to Denmark, while Iranians to a large degree have migrated following the Iran-Iraq conflict in the mid-1980s, and Pakistanis have migrated more recently. This is reflected both in the period of arrival and in the average years since immigration, being 14.50 years for immigrants from Pakistan, 15.85 for immigrants from Iran and 16.35 years for immigrants from Turkey. There are other notable differences between immigrants from Iran and from the two other nationalities. Turks and Pakistanis have typically migrated to Denmark to achieve family reunification, as opposed to Iranians, who are primarily refugees. This is also reflected by the larger share of Iranians being men, who generally have migrated at an older age and are from larger cities. The Iranians also have better English language skills and though they have stayed in Denmark for shorter time than e.g. many of the Turks, they are more affluent in the Danish language at the time of the sur-vey.
The next set of variables describes human capital acquisition in the home and destina-tion countries, respectively. It is observed that 43% of the immigrant groups considered here arrived in Denmark with at most primary schooling. 37% has a high school degree equivalent and 19% has further education, i.e. either a vocational or an advanced degree from their home country. The distribution of educational attainment obtained in Denmark is even more dispersed with two thirds who have not completed any schooling nor education and 25% who have completed further education. It is also observed that the immigrants generally have a very limited amount of labour market experience from their home country at the time of arri-val.
Table 6.2 shows the joint distribution of foreign and Danish education. The table is to be read row-wise, showing the percentage of immigrants with a given level of foreign education, who have subsequently obtained a given level of education in Denmark.
Table 6.2 Combinations of pre- and post-migration levels of education (row percentage) Education obtained
prior to migration Education obtained in Denmark
N
None Primary High
school Vocational Advanced
None 0.571 0.200 0.057 0.086 0.086 35
A number of interesting features can be observed from this table of educational combina-tions. The share of immigrants who does not obtain an education in Denmark is a bit higher for those with a vocational background or primary schooling. Among the immigrants with at least a high school degree, who have completed a Danish education, most complete an educa-tion at the tertiary level (i.e. either vocaeduca-tional or advanced). Immigrants with a
post-migration advanced level of education are typically those who had either a high school degree or an advanced degree from their home country at the time of arrival.
Those with a vocational or advanced degree were also asked about their field of educa-tion. Only two individuals (not shown in the table) completed a Danish education within both the same level and field of education as the education obtained prior to migrating to Den-mark: One with a vocational degree (within trade) and one with an advanced degree (within the humanities). This is a stunning result and it indicates that the immigrants are not merely obtaining a Danish education in order to supplement already acquired skills, but rather that they reconsider their options and start anew. However, because of the limited number of ob-servations in general and only very few obob-servations within the same field, field of study is not included further in the analyses.
In table 6.3 the employment rates for groups of immigrants with different qualifications are reported. More specifically, table 6.3 shows employment rates for immigrants with a giv-en level of home- and destination-country specific education and experigiv-ence levels, as well as employment rates for immigrants who have a good level of Danish language.
Table 6.3 Employment rates for given level of pre- and post-migration qualifications Home-country Vocational 0.617* Vocational 0.754**
Advanced 0.640** Advanced 0.910**
Home-country
Note: 756 observations. Tests for significant difference to the reference group: ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1.
Table 6.3 shows that 46% of the immigrants who arrive in Denmark without any education are employed in 2006. The corresponding figure is 55% for those with a primary education as the highest completed level in the home country. For all higher levels of education, the em-ployment rates are substantially and significantly higher. A similar picture is seen with re-spect to the level of education completed in the destination country, although the differences are even wider, as the employment rate is 75% for immigrants with a Danish vocational de-gree and 91% for immigrants with an advanced dede-gree. Large and significant differences in employment rates are also present for immigrants who possess good Danish language skills and immigrants who have more Danish labour market experience. Those with foreign labour market experience have slightly higher employment rates, but the differences are not
statisti-cally significant. Note that these differences are descriptive and do not account for differ-ences in other pre-migration characteristics, e.g. years since migration and age at migration nor do they account for the interdependent effects of different groups of characteristics.