CMIR Seminar Series | Do next-door co-ethnic neighbors improve labor market outcomes? Evidence from Sweden

This study examines co-ethnic peer effects in immigrants’ immediate residential surroundings and asks whether next-door co-ethnic neighbors shape their labor-market outcomes.

 

Detailed Swedish registers allow Ahmet to identify immigrants living on the same floor and follow their employment trajectories and workplace connections over time. Combined with an interacted fixed-effects design, the data enable comparisons among immigrants from the same country and arrival cohort who initially lived in the same building but had different numbers of co-ethnic neighbors on their floors.

 

Preliminary findings suggest that greater co-ethnic exposure is initially associated with lower employment, although this effect fades over time. At the same time, it increases the probability of working at the same workplace as a floor neighbor. The more favorable employment and workplace-connection effects are concentrated among men, whereas women experience negative employment effects.

 

Overall, the findings suggest that immediate co-ethnic peers create lasting workplace connections but do not improve employment prospects on average, with markedly different consequences for men and women.