The Sheltering Effect of Occupational Closure? Consequences for Ethnic Minorities’ Earnings

Abstract

It has been widely documented that immigrants receive lower earnings than the majority of the population in most Western countries. Previous research has pointed to various forms of discrimination that affect immigrants’ wage rates. The authors discuss whether the source of this wage inequality can be found at the occupational level. In this article, the authors argue that occupational closures reduce within-occupation wage inequality. To test their expectations, the authors use Norwegian register data that span all employees. The results align with their expectations, as both occupational licensing and union density strongly reduce immigrant-majority earnings’ inequality. However, neither certifications nor credentialization reduces the immigrant-majority earnings gap.