The school-to-work transition of 2<Superscript>nd</Superscript> generation immigrants in Denmark

2<Superscript>nd</Superscript> generation immigrants from less developed countries have less education and a lower employment frequency compared to the native Danish youth. We analyse the school-to-work transition of these groups using panel data for the years 1985–1997. The educational gap between 2<Superscript>nd</Superscript> generation immigrants and the Danish youth is to some extent explained by age structure, while age does not explain the native-immigrant gap concerning the duration of waiting time until first job and the duration of first employment spell. Instead parental capital and neighbourhood effects seem to play a major role. We find large gender differences among 2<Superscript>nd</Superscript> generation immigrants in the school-to-work transition. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2003