Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Immigrant-Native Wage Gap in Sweden : Do Personality Traits Matter?

Pello-Esso, Wazah LU ; Gerdtham, Ulf LU orcid ; Lönn, Sara Larsson LU ; Sundquist, Jan LU and Sundquist, Kristina LU (2024) In Journal of International Migration and Integration
Abstract

Sweden has an immigrant-native wage gap. Although the impact of educational attainment and other variables have been studied, the impact of specific personality traits analyzed separately on the wage gap remains poorly understood. In this study, we used a unique dataset that usually contains unobserved personality traits evaluated by psychologists during the Swedish military conscription, as well as post-conscription labor market data to examine whether and to what extent heterogeneity in four different personality traits contributes to disparities in wages among men born in Sweden (both Swedish-born parents) and naturalized men born outside EU-15. The sample consisted of 278,660 males (6% with a foreign background) and was based on the... (More)

Sweden has an immigrant-native wage gap. Although the impact of educational attainment and other variables have been studied, the impact of specific personality traits analyzed separately on the wage gap remains poorly understood. In this study, we used a unique dataset that usually contains unobserved personality traits evaluated by psychologists during the Swedish military conscription, as well as post-conscription labor market data to examine whether and to what extent heterogeneity in four different personality traits contributes to disparities in wages among men born in Sweden (both Swedish-born parents) and naturalized men born outside EU-15. The sample consisted of 278,660 males (6% with a foreign background) and was based on the 1975–1990 birth cohorts. The findings show that two of the four personality traits, i.e., intensity and emotional stability, significantly contribute to the immigrant-native wage gap. Men born outside the EU-15 received lower returns (2–3%) from these traits compared to men born in Sweden. The difference in returns from these traits was robust across the sensitivity analyses. Our overall conclusion is that specific personality traits play a role in the immigrant-native wage gap.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
Immigrant-native wage gap, Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition, Personality traits
in
Journal of International Migration and Integration
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85203145821
ISSN
1488-3473
DOI
10.1007/s12134-024-01188-z
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024.
id
0810faf8-68c7-44d9-b30e-c6139ab3014c
date added to LUP
2024-09-16 10:09:26
date last changed
2025-04-04 15:23:44
@article{0810faf8-68c7-44d9-b30e-c6139ab3014c,
  abstract     = {{<p>Sweden has an immigrant-native wage gap. Although the impact of educational attainment and other variables have been studied, the impact of specific personality traits analyzed separately on the wage gap remains poorly understood. In this study, we used a unique dataset that usually contains unobserved personality traits evaluated by psychologists during the Swedish military conscription, as well as post-conscription labor market data to examine whether and to what extent heterogeneity in four different personality traits contributes to disparities in wages among men born in Sweden (both Swedish-born parents) and naturalized men born outside EU-15. The sample consisted of 278,660 males (6% with a foreign background) and was based on the 1975–1990 birth cohorts. The findings show that two of the four personality traits, i.e., intensity and emotional stability, significantly contribute to the immigrant-native wage gap. Men born outside the EU-15 received lower returns (2–3%) from these traits compared to men born in Sweden. The difference in returns from these traits was robust across the sensitivity analyses. Our overall conclusion is that specific personality traits play a role in the immigrant-native wage gap.</p>}},
  author       = {{Pello-Esso, Wazah and Gerdtham, Ulf and Lönn, Sara Larsson and Sundquist, Jan and Sundquist, Kristina}},
  issn         = {{1488-3473}},
  keywords     = {{Immigrant-native wage gap; Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition; Personality traits}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Journal of International Migration and Integration}},
  title        = {{Immigrant-Native Wage Gap in Sweden : Do Personality Traits Matter?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12134-024-01188-z}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s12134-024-01188-z}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}