Labour market participation of Sub-Saharan Africans in the Netherlands: the limits of the human capital approach

Figures & data

Table 1. Labour market participation of natives and Sub-Saharan Africans in the Netherlands, 2012.

N (sample)	Native Dutch		Sub-Saharan Africans		Gap % points
	1,948,502		23,849
	Employees	%	Employees	%
Total population	1,573,851	80.8	6579	27.6	53.2
Education
Lower	311,172	65.5	3042	20.4	45.1
Secondary	680,563	81.6	2388	39.3	42.2
Higher	582,116	91.0	1149	40.1	51,0
Gender
Man	855,177	90.4	3659	31.9	58.5
Woman	718,674	71.7	292	23.6	48.1
Age
15–34	73,261	85.2	493	6.8	78.4
35–44	6571	87.7	2543	29.4	58.4
45–54	502,693	77.3	2736	43	34.3
55–64	340,797	73.6	807	51.9	21.7
Number of children
0	526,153	81.6	265	23.7	57.9
1	548,054	81.3	163	34.9	46.4
2	384,294	80.8	1464	34.7	46.1
3	97,057	76.7	623	27.8	48.8
4	14,828	69.4	160	17.1	52.3
> 4	3465	61.9	52	8.8	53
Province of residence
Zeeland	24,181	80.2	48	13.1	67.0
Flevoland	27,881	81.3	137	15.6	65.7
Drenthe	38,284	77.1	44	12.3	64.9
Groningen	48,482	75.6	98	15.8	59.8
Friesland	52,668	76.5	72	11.1	65.4
Limburg	81,66	80.6	136	15.2	65.3
Overijssel	90,493	81.8	110	13.1	68.7
Utrecht	104,573	86.5	311	23.2	63.4
Gelderland	154,258	82.4	274	17.1	65.3
Noord-Brabant	193,873	84.7	454	19.5	65.2
Noord-Holland	196,245	84	1749	33.6	50.4
Zuid-Holland	242,317	83.9	2426	39.2	44.7
Household composition
Single	189,562	78.6	1534	20.2	58.4
Not married without children	153,263	85.3	659	31.6	53.7
Married without children	173,191	83	375	35.4	47.6
Not married with children	18,292	84.1	1025	37.8	46.3
Married with children	771,065	82.4	1743	34.2	48.2
Single with children	93,713	62.6	1161	24	38.6
Other household	10,137	63.5	82	19.1	44.4

Table 2. Labour market participation of Sub-Saharan Africans by demographic characteristics, 2012.

Population
Native Dutch |N1 = 1,948,502 Sub-Saharans N2 = 23,849
	Employees	%	Gap % points
Ethnic origin
Native Dutch	1,573,851	80.8	–
Sub-Saharans	6579	27.6	53.2
Eritrea and Sierra Leonne	107	5.1	75.7
Somalia	362	6.8	74
Sudan	189	13.5	67.3
Congo	203	14.1	66.7
Angola	215	22.9	57.8
Nigeria	449	24.1	56.7
Ethiopia	655	26.5	54.3
Ghana	1405	39.5	41.2
South Africa	1056	54.9	25.8
Cape Verde	1938	61.2	19.5
Duration of stay (1st generation)
<5 years	119	2.4	78.4
5–10	190	5	75.8
10–15	527	11.2	69.6
15–20	1382	38.8	41.9
20–25	1860	60.4	20.4
25–30	765	55.8	25
30–40	960	70.1	10.6
> 40	168	74.7	6.1
Generation
1st	5979	26	54.8
2nd	600	72.5	8.3
Motive of immigration (1st generation)
Family reunification	135	2.9	77.9
Asylum seekers/refugees	222	3.7	77.1
Economic migrants	226	37.9	42.9
Others	36	3	77.8
Motive unknown	5360	50.8	30

Table 3. Fairlie non-linear decomposition of Native Dutch and Sub-Saharan Africans in labour market attainment, 2012.

%	Model 1
Sample	Sub-Saharan/natives
	All sub-Saharan Africans	Cape Verde	South Africa	Ghana	Rest
N	23,849	3165	1922	3554	15,208
Rate Native Dutch	0.8077	0.8077	0.8077	0.8077	0.8077
Rate Sub-Saharan Africans	0.2759	0.6123	0.5494	0.3953	0.1433
Gap Sub-Saharan/natives	−0.5319	−0.1954	−0.2583	−0.4124	−0.6644
Contributions from group/demographics differences in:
	coefficient
Education	−0.0724	−0.0276	0.0001	−0.0002	−0.0611
Standard errors	0.0006	0.0027	0.0000	0.0000	0.0065
Contribution to gap (%)	13.6	14.1	0.0	0.0	9.2
Gender	−0.0118	−0.0001	0.0000	−0.0001	−0.0025
Standard errors	0.0001	0.0002	0.0000	0.0000	0.0008
Contribution to gap (%)	2.2	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.4
		not sig.
Age	0.0382	0.0005	0.0001	0.0001	0.0306
Standard errors	0.0004	0.0001	0.0000	0.0000	0.0030
Contribution to gap %	−7.2	−0.3	0.0	0.0	−4.6
Number of children	0.0030	−0.0031	0.0000	0.0000	0.0020
Standard errors	0.0000	0.0002	0.0000	0.0000	0.0002
Contribution to gap %	−0.6	1.6	0.0	0.0	−0.3
				not sig.
Region of residence	0.0006	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0005
Standard errors	0.0001	0.0001	0.0000	0.0000	0.0001
Contribution to gap %	−0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	−0.1
Household composition	−0.0051	0.0004	0.0000	0.0000	−0.0072
Standard errors	0.0002	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0005
Contribution to gap %	1.0	−0.2	0.0	0.0	1.1
All included variables	−0.0475	−0.0298	0.0000	−0.0003	−0.0379
Contribution to gap %	8.9	15.3	0.0	0.1	5.7

(*) not significant.

Table 4. Fairlie non-linear decomposition of Native Dutch and Sub-Saharan Africans by generation and duration of stay in labour market attainment, 2012.

%	Model 1	Model 2		Model 3
Sample	Sub-Saharan/natives	Natives/generation		Natives/duration of stay (1st generation)
	All sub-Saharan Africans	1st generation	2nd generation	<5 years	5–15 years	15–25 years	25–40 years	>40 years
N	23,849	23,021	828	4901	8505	6638	274	225
Rate Native Dutch	0.8077	0.8077	0.8077	0.8077	0.8077	0.8077	0.8077	0.8077
Rate Sub-Saharan Africans	0.2759	0.2597	0.7246	0.0243	0.0843	0.4884	0.6296	0.7467
Gap Sub-Saharan/natives	−0.5319	−0.5480	−0.0831	−0.7834	−0.7234	−0.3193	−0.1782	−0.0611
Contributions from group/demographics differences in :
	coefficient
Education	−0.0724	−0.0841	−0.0152	−0.0049	−0.0045	−0.0779	−0.0783	0.0092
Standard errors	0.0006	0.0003	0.0001	0.0005	0.0002	0.0016	0.0017	0.0141
Contribution to gap (%)	13.6	15.4	18.3	0.6	0.6	24.4	44.0	−15.1
Gender	−0.0118	0.0112	0.0103	−0.0013	−0.0027	−0.0116	−0.0282	−0.0107
Standard errors	0.0001	0.0000	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0002	0.0017	0.0124
Contribution to gap (%)	2.2	−2.0	−12.4	0.2	0.4	3.6	15.8	17.5
Age	0.0382	0.0361	0.0409	0.0059	0.0052	0.0125	−0.0111	−0.0207
Standard errors	0.0004	0.0003	0.0003	0.0006	0.0003	0.0003	0.0004	0.0013
Contribution to gap %	−7.2	−6.6	−49.2	−0.7	−0.7	−3.9	6.2	33.9
Number of children	0.0030	−0.0037	0.0012	0.0007	0.0004	−0.0040	−0.0028	0.0008
Standard errors	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0001	0.0000	0.0001	0.0002	0.0008
Contribution to gap %	−0.6	0.7	−1.5	−0.1	−0.1	1.2	1.6	−1.3
Region of residence	0.0006	0.0009	0.0005	0.0000	0.0000	0.0004	0.0000	0.0001
Standard errors	0.0001	0.0001	0.0001	0.0000	0.0000	0.0001	0.0000	0.0001
Contribution to gap %	−0.1	−0.2	−0.6	0.0	0.0	−0.1	0.0	−0.2
Household composition	−0.0051	−0.0015	−0.0006	−0.0008	−0.0007	−0.0018	0.0013	−0.0024
Standard errors	0.0002	0.0001	0.0000	0.0001	0.0000	0.0001	0.0001	0.0004
Contribution to gap %	1.0	0.3	0.7	0.1	0.1	0.6	−0.7	4.0
All included variables	−0.0475	−0.0410	0.0371	−0.0005	−0.0023	−0.0823	−0.1191	−0.0237
Contribution to gap %	8.9	7.5	−44.7	0.1	0.3	25.8	66.8	38.8

(*) not significant.

Figure 1. Occupational attainment of low and secondary education of Sub-Saharan Africans, 2012.

Table

	2010	2012	2016
Eritrea	359	2133	8151
Sierra Leonne	1432	6008	5776
Sudan	3919	6268	6711
Angola	4477	8575	8365
Congo	6115	8134	8390
Nigeria	5180	11,466	12,252
Ethiopia	8997	12,270	16,347
South Africa	12,524	18,224	19,877
Ghana	15,609	21,922	23,168
Cape Verde	18,242	21,550	22,157
Somalia	28,780	34,631	39,465
Total Sub-Saharans (research population)	105,634	151,181	170,659
Other Sub-Saharans	16,901	29,634	27,305
Total sub-Saharans	122,535	180,815	197,964

Table

	Low	Secondary	Higher	Total population education known	Education unknown	Total	% Level education known
South Africa	269	867	786	1922	3333	5255	36.6
Cape Verde	1875	1092	198	3165	4997	8162	38.8
Ghana	2533	757	264	3554	4274	7828	45.4
Somalia	4623	556	137	5316	5596	10,912	48.7
Nigeria	844	581	438	1863	1961	3824	48.7
Eritrea	348	68	25	441	461	902	48.9
Ethiopia	1326	739	407	2472	2250	4722	52.4
Angola	623	257	57	937	825	1762	53.2
Sudan	712	396	291	1399	1142	2541	55.1
Congo	798	456	185	1439	1033	2472	58.2
Sierra Leone	959	303	79	1341	860	2201	60.9
Total	14,910	6072	2867	23,849	26,732	50,581	47.2