Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

HUI Working Papers,
HUI Research

No 128: Are unemployed immigrants more likely to be hired by high-growth firms? Evidence from matched employer-employee data

Sven-Olov Daunfeldt () and Hans Seerar Westerberg ()
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Sven-Olov Daunfeldt: HUI Research, Postal: Regeringsgatan 60, 103 29 Stockholm, Sweden and Dalarna University, Falun, Sweden
Hans Seerar Westerberg: HUI Research, Postal: HUI Research, Regeringsgatan 60, 103 29 Stockholm and Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden

Abstract: The number of refugees in Europe has increased dramatically in recent years, and many countries are now facing great challenges to integrate these refugees into their societies. A small group of high-growth firms have at the same time attracted attention because they create most new jobs in any given point in time. Using matched employer-employee data from Statistics Sweden, we investigate whether these firms are also particularly important in providing job opportunities for immigrants who are unemployed. Our findings indicate that high-growth firms are less likely to recruit unemployed individuals, and that the odds of being recruited by a high-growth firm in general is not different for immigrants and native workers. Rapidly growing firms are thus selective in their hiring decisions and value recent work experience when recruiting employees. Policies that are focused towards high-growth firms might therefore not help immigrants who face difficulties in entering the labor market.

Keywords: Firm growth; Gazelles; High-growth firms; Immigration; Integration; Labor market; Matching models; Resource based theory; Interaction effects; Logit; Odds ratio

JEL-codes: D22; J15; L25; L26

37 pages, December 19, 2017

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