Debora Pricila Birgier ​
Bio
I am a researcher at the Demography Unit (SUDA), Department of Sociology at Stockholm University. I received my Ph.D. in Labor studies at Tel-Aviv University in December 2019.
My research interests fall at the interplay between ethnic- and gender-based economic inequality from a comparative perspective. I have been studying the impact that the combination between gender and ethnicity has on immigrants' labor market integration and how their integration is affected by receiving countries' institutions. My research has been published in the International Migration Review, International Migration, European Journal of Population, and Research in Social Stratification and Mobility.
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You can view my CV here.
Research
My ongoing research projects
Immigrants’ Family Patterns and Household Economic Assimilation: A Comparative Study of the U.S. and Sweden
I have examined the economic assimilation of immigrants’ families in the U.S. and Sweden, two countries that differ substantially in regards to welfare and migration policies, labor markets, and levels of income inequality. I find that immigrant families assimilate better in the U.S. than their counterparts in Sweden. I also find that being married to a native plays a vital role in the assimilation of immigrant families, more so in Sweden than in the U.S. My findings emphasize the importance of the too often-neglected family level in immigrants’ assimilation analyses and the importance of the reception context in shaping the type of immigration and immigrants’ labor market performances.
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Immigrants’ individual self-selection patterns, context of reception and their economic assimilation
With Professor Christer Lundh and Professor Yitchak Haberfeld, we examined the relationship between immigrants' self-selection patterns, reception context, and economic assimilation. In a series of papers, we show that immigrants' characteristics and self-selection patterns shape their economic assimilation and that the context of reception is often less influential.
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Occupational education mismatch by gender and migration status across Europe
Most existing studies on educational occupational mismatch focus on male immigrants or use pooled samples of men and women, ignoring gender-specific aspects that might shape female employment status and occupational attainment. In addition, over-education among immigrants varies substantially across countries. In this project, I examine the factors that shape gender differences in EOM among migrants and the extent to which migrant women suffer from a double disadvantage in terms of occupational mismatch using a comparative approach.
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Publications
Birgier, D. P., & Cantalini, S. (2023). The Trade-Off Between Employment and Overeducation: A Cross-Country Comparative Study of Immigrants in 17 Western European Countries. Stockholm Research Reports in Demography. Preprint.
Birgier, D. P., & Bar-Haim, E. (2023). Language Distance, Language Abilities, and Labour Market Outcome of Migrants by Gender. Stockholm Research Reports in Demography. Preprint.
Birgier, D. P., & Bar-Haim, E. (2023). Language Used at Home and Educational–Occupational Mismatch of Migrants by Gender. Social Indicators Research, 1-26.
Maskileyson, D., & Birgier, D. P. (2022). The non-economic and economic well-being of immigrants. Frontiers in sociology, 7.
Birgier, D. P., Lundh, C., Haberfeld, Y., & Elldér, E. (2022). Movers and Stayers: A Study of Emigration from Sweden 1993–2014. European Journal of Population, 1-32.
Haberfeld Y., Birgier D. P., Lundh C., and Elldér E. (2020). “Migration across developed countries: German immigrants in Sweden and the US”. International Migration, 58 (6), 171-194.
Haberfeld Y., Birgier D. P., Lundh C., and Elldér E. (2019). “Selectivity and internal migration: A study of refugees’ dispersal policy in Sweden”. Frontiers in Sociology, 4, 66.
Birgier D. P. (2017). “Immigration, occupations, and native wages: Long time trends in the US”. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 51, 41-55.
Haberfeld Y., Birgier D. P., Lundh C., and Elldér E. (2017). “Economic assimilation of immigrants arriving from highly developed countries: The case of German immigrants in Sweden and the US”. IFAU, Working paper 2017: 26
Birgier D. P., Lundh C., Haberfeld Y. and Elldér E. (2016). “Self-selection and host country context in economic assimilation of political refugees in US, Sweden and Israel”. International Migration Review, 52(2), 524-558.
Mandel H. and Birgier D. P. (2016). “The “Gender Revolution” in Israel: Progress and Stagnation”. Pp. 153-184, in Nabil Khattab, Sami Miaari and Stier Haya (eds.), Socioeconomic Inequality in Israel: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis. Palgrave Macmillan.
Contacts
Debora Pricila Birgier
Department of Sociology,
Demography Unit (SUDA)
Stockholm University, Sweden
debora.birgier@sociology.su.se
