Is overqualification a stepping stone for career progression among children of immigrants

Bibliographic Data

ID19219271
AuthorsWooseong Kim (0000-0001-9874-446X, Stockholm University, corresponding author), Raffaele Grotti (0000-0002-8382-2290, Stockholm University), Siddartha Aradhya (0000-0003-3748-6270, Stockholm University)
Year2026
Volume104
Pages101164-101164
Publication date2026-05-30
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueResearch in Social Stratification and Mobility (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0276-5624 • E-ISSN: 1878-5654
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101164
OpenAlexW7162865610
LanguageEN
References cited50

Overqualification is one of the key labor market disadvantages that the children of immigrants born in the host society––the second-generation (G2)––disproportionately experience compared to the majority population. A higher prevalence of overqualification among the G2 may result from their strategic choice to circumvent persistent unemployment but also from the use of overqualification as a stepping stone into adequate employment ––as predicted by career mobility theory. In light of this consideration, our paper investigates 1) to what extent overqualification and unemployment differently lead to career progression into adequately matched employment and 2) how this varies between the second-generation and majority populations. This study draws on Swedish register data on the total population and applies dynamic correlated random-effects multinomial logistic models to investigate year-to-year transitions across labor market states. Our results show that the chances of moving to adequate employment are higher for unemployed individuals than for overqualified workers. This result, which holds for both the majority population and G2 groups, is against the idea that overqualification serves as a stepping stone. We find that the chances of transitioning from overqualification and unemployment to adequate employment are higher for the majority population compared to most G2 groups. Although not the main focus of this paper, our analysis also provides evidence of higher risks for G2 overqualified workers to become unemployed and for G2 unemployed individuals to remain entrapped into unemployment. Together, these findings indicate a vicious cycle of career disadvantages for the G2

Career planning · Stepping stone · Time stepping · Work (physics) · Career Development and Diversity · Diversity and Career in Medicine · International Student and Expatriate Challenges

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