Summary
In this chapter the authors assess the importance of skills for the occupational sorting of immigrants and their native-born descendants in the labor market. This assessment is based on the case of Norway; with its high bars for labor market success among low-skilled immigrants, but also with a comprehensive educational system that may equalize opportunities among children of immigrants.
First they discuss why the unequal distribution of skills is likely to result in occupational sorting of immigrant-origin workers. Then they argue why many of the skill-related explanations for differences in occupational sorting should be less relevant for descendants of immigrants who where born and raised in their parents' country of destination. After that the present empirical results documenting changes in the occupational skill-profiles between immigrants and their descendants. Lastly they summarize their findings and discuss how a focus on occupational skill-profiles can broaden our understanding of intergenerational assimilation within immigrant minorities.