Typology of early professional careers and perceived discrimination for young people of foreign origin

This research focuses on individuals who consider they have been victims of discrimination. The aim is to look at the feeling of discrimination and to assess its effects on career paths seven years after leaving school. Taking data from the Class of 98 (Génération 98) survey by the Céreq, we used the method for grouping self-organising maps (Kohonen's algorithm), supplemented by an econometric analysis to distinguish eight major classes of career paths. In parallel, an interview survey was conducted. The results show a segmentation of career paths at two levels. On the one hand, young people of foreign origin who experienced discrimination are over-represented in certain paths, characterised by unemployment, temping or precarious work (inter- class segmentation). On the other hand, strong inequalities exist within those paths which provide rapid access to stabe employment, as persons obtain lower-quality jobs (intra-class segmentation).