published in: Economic Journal, 2005, 115 (507), F359-376
Most immigrant groups experience higher rates of unemployment than the host countries
native population, but it is as yet unclear whether differences in job search behaviour, or its
success, can help explain this gap. In this paper, we investigate how the job search methods
of unemployed immigrants compare with those of the native born, using panel data from the
UK Quarterly Labour Force Survey. We explore the relative effectiveness of different job
search methods, between the main native born and immigrant groups, in terms of their
impact on the duration of unemployment. Our main finding is that immigrant job search in the
UK is less successful than that of UK born whites. However their relative failure to exit
unemployment cannot generally be explained by differences in the choice of main job search
method or in observable characteristics. We find no support for a policy that would constrain
immigrants to use verifiable job search methods.
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