The ambiguous role of ethnic context : a multi-level analysis of the relationship between group size and labor market integration of three immigrant groups in Germany

The paper analyses the role of the relative regional group size for the labor market integration of three different ethnic groups in Germany. The analysis addresses the question of whether there is a consistent group size effect, or if group size functions differently for different immigrant groups and for different indicators of labor market integration in Germany. Using data provided by the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) multilevel cross-classification models are fitted. The final dataset contains 10,970 observations from Turkish, Greek, and Italian immigrants, and their offspring. Results generally show no effect of relative regional group size on the risk of unemployment, but a significant effect on job status. The effect is nonlinear, and manifests differently for each ethnic group. It becomes apparent that findings on the relationship between group size and labor market integration found for one immigrant group cannot readily be extended to other origin groups.