Empirical essays on wage setting and immigrant labor market opportunities

This thesis consists of three self-contained essays, all contributing to our understanding of the determinants of individuals’ labor market outcomes. People who enter the labor market do not only care about finding a job, but also about the wages, hours and working conditions that the job entails. These are all examples of what economists refer to as labor market outcomes, and studying the determinants of these outcomes is one of the main focuses within Labor Economics.

As labor economists it is our job to explain, describe and analyze the mechanisms of the labor market, so that individuals, policy makers and social partners can make informed decisions. While two essays in this thesis study the labor market outcomes of non-western immigrants, the third instead focuses on blue collar public sector workers, mainly women. Both these groups have a relatively weak position in the labor market, and for policy makers who are concerned with the welfare of the least advantaged individuals in the society, knowledge about how the labor market functions for these groups is important.