Gendered inequalities in occupational attainment of migrants and their descendants: An intergenerational comparison with stayers in the country of origin

Gendered inequalities in occupational attainment of migrants and their descendants: An intergenerational comparison with stayers in the country of origin | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Gendered inequalities in occupational attainment of migrants and their descendants: An intergenerational comparison with stayers in the country of origin Şebnem Eroğlu, Sait Bayrakdar, Ayse Guveli This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7505879/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This is the first study to compare migrants to Europe and their Europe-born descendants with stayers in the country of origin to examine the role of migration, gender and parental socioeconomic status in shaping occupational attainment. The study integrates the classic social mobility and migration literatures to disentangle the direct impact of parental education on occupational status within the migration context. It draws on the pioneering 2000 Families Survey, which locates the first-generation men who moved to Europe from five high migrant-sending regions in Turkey during the guest-worker years of 1961 to 1974 and those who stayed behind, and traces their male and female family members across Turkey and Europe. The data were obtained from proxy interviews performed to generate basic socioeconomic and demographic information about nearly 20,000 individuals nested within 1,544 families. Based on data on men and women with current or past employment, the results demonstrate a significant tendency for migrants to attain less prestigious occupations than stayers with commensurate education. Migrant men prove even more disadvantaged; Europe-born descendants have lower returns to their educational qualifications than the stayers in Turkey. Europe-born women, however, fare better than Europe-born men. Contrary to the classic assumptions about occupational attainment, parental education has a direct influence on children’s job prospects to extents varying by gender and migration status. Of the migrants, men do not necessarily benefit from being born to more educated parents. Parental education makes a positive difference for migrant women but to a lesser extent than for their stayer and Europe-born counterparts. Parental education, however, prevents Europe-born men from slipping further down the occupational ladder. Biological sciences/Psychology Social science/Psychology Social science/Sociology intergenerational transmission international migration labour migration to Europe Turkish migration socioeconomic status occupational status parental education Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Supplementarymaterial20250827.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 09 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 06 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 12 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 12 Feb, 2026 Reviews received at journal 10 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 19 Jan, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 27 Nov, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 16 Oct, 2025 First submitted to journal 16 Oct, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7505879","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":577316386,"identity":"c247e4ec-ddc6-4e58-9c03-688976c8b856","order_by":0,"name":"Şebnem Eroğlu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Bristol","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Şebnem","middleName":"","lastName":"Eroğlu","suffix":""},{"id":577316387,"identity":"ddfb623d-2ff9-4549-af79-af4db344aa08","order_by":1,"name":"Sait Bayrakdar","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"University of Warwick","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sait","middleName":"","lastName":"Bayrakdar","suffix":""},{"id":577316388,"identity":"0d8ffe9e-ce0b-4803-a700-289d5a2705cd","order_by":2,"name":"Ayse Guveli","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Warwick","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ayse","middleName":"","lastName":"Guveli","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-09-01 08:08:47","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7505879/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7505879/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":100829642,"identity":"c6e0d1be-7e55-4d53-8de6-1683e630e980","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 20:27:59","extension":"docx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":442660,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"GenderedAttainmentMigrantsTextRefs20251016.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7505879/v1/a85b63e43b7b4988a9b757ff.docx"},{"id":100858801,"identity":"f8ae88dc-5884-4bca-bd78-2b82e64c8c09","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-22 07:24:47","extension":"json","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":6496,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"d29f77a6326e4200880d45a3e8a4c944.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7505879/v1/ec6759ea68b5f64656725d99.json"},{"id":100829647,"identity":"6afd9259-db75-4cb1-a57d-899fd62be32e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 20:27:59","extension":"docx","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":24402,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Supplementarymaterial20250827.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7505879/v1/35938458941fad069144bbe3.docx"},{"id":100859025,"identity":"45eeed43-f005-4dea-9e71-23af59d97e57","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-22 07:25:06","extension":"xml","order_by":3,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":121976,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"d29f77a6326e4200880d45a3e8a4c9441enriched.xml","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7505879/v1/7d22f992066dcbec803e39ed.xml"},{"id":100858577,"identity":"fdec19a8-6092-45b2-b678-160cf853f24d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-22 07:24:28","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":47933,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7505879/v1/53aac53aee558018205e8536.png"},{"id":100858830,"identity":"3f02db25-7324-4f01-9d2b-2eec560d7e8a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-22 07:24:49","extension":"jpeg","order_by":5,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":398553,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage2.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7505879/v1/9503f09e8ebe517d302e1633.jpeg"},{"id":100859089,"identity":"536bfc04-7ac9-4d7c-90a4-417a696c4cfe","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-22 07:25:15","extension":"png","order_by":6,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":126151,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7505879/v1/f81bd7bc4bcaee2c87758d5f.png"},{"id":100858305,"identity":"7b23d24b-e91a-475e-a69c-13e8ab82940a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-22 07:24:10","extension":"png","order_by":7,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":12245,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7505879/v1/008e29cf3cea7fcbf59e1b91.png"},{"id":100858437,"identity":"14a644c0-1d05-4215-9e86-61946a9f2e9d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-22 07:24:17","extension":"png","order_by":8,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":60566,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7505879/v1/bee8e42bbee4285bf22168fe.png"},{"id":100829645,"identity":"666d4e22-5697-4987-88e1-7eeaa5fd97d4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 20:27:59","extension":"png","order_by":9,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":10739,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7505879/v1/b6fbd20ef8abda2b337e27dd.png"},{"id":100829653,"identity":"7333df36-0ca0-48c3-8ad7-90ce6aa0d585","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 20:28:00","extension":"xml","order_by":10,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":119538,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"d29f77a6326e4200880d45a3e8a4c9441structuring.xml","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7505879/v1/008dd6db8f0cfb66efc78a72.xml"},{"id":100829654,"identity":"2a6c5b06-4655-4a33-97fe-6c0d030925c3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 20:28:00","extension":"html","order_by":11,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":130013,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"earlyproof.html","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7505879/v1/cfee0c82ef6826a4de45c2de.html"},{"id":100860023,"identity":"619c46ea-106f-47a4-8ea2-9f2984bb2d13","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-22 07:35:52","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":608267,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"GenderedAttainmentMigrantsTextRefs20251016.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7505879/v1_covered_b36cf361-24f0-4328-a9fd-a667bc2574ef.pdf"},{"id":100829649,"identity":"fa465726-08c7-44d4-9e58-c69e6d12c4f0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-21 20:28:00","extension":"docx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":24402,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Supplementarymaterial20250827.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7505879/v1/dd7d4bc16b0df8f28ccdb7a7.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Gendered inequalities in occupational attainment of migrants and their descendants: An intergenerational comparison with stayers in the country of origin","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"humanities-and-social-sciences-communications","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"palcomms","sideBox":"Learn more about [Humanities \u0026 Social Sciences Communications](http://www.nature.com/palcomms/)","snPcode":"41599","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41599/3","title":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"intergenerational transmission, international migration, labour migration to Europe, Turkish migration, socioeconomic status, occupational status, parental education","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7505879/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7505879/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis is the first study to compare migrants to Europe and their Europe-born descendants with stayers in the country of origin to examine the role of migration, gender and parental socioeconomic status in shaping occupational attainment. The study integrates the classic social mobility and migration literatures to disentangle the direct impact of parental education on occupational status within the migration context. It draws on the pioneering 2000 Families Survey, which locates the first-generation men who moved to Europe from five high migrant-sending regions in Turkey during the guest-worker years of 1961 to 1974 and those who stayed behind, and traces their male and female family members across Turkey and Europe. The data were obtained from proxy interviews performed to generate basic socioeconomic and demographic information about nearly 20,000 individuals nested within 1,544 families. Based on data on men and women with current or past employment, the results demonstrate a significant tendency for migrants to attain less prestigious occupations than stayers with commensurate education. Migrant men prove even more disadvantaged; Europe-born descendants have lower returns to their educational qualifications than the stayers in Turkey. Europe-born women, however, fare better than Europe-born men. Contrary to the classic assumptions about occupational attainment, parental education has a direct influence on children\u0026rsquo;s job prospects to extents varying by gender and migration status. Of the migrants, men do not necessarily benefit from being born to more educated parents. Parental education makes a positive difference for migrant women but to a lesser extent than for their stayer and Europe-born counterparts. Parental education, however, prevents Europe-born men from slipping further down the occupational ladder.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Gendered inequalities in occupational attainment of migrants and their descendants: An intergenerational comparison with stayers in the country of origin","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-21 20:27:55","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7505879/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-09T21:36:47+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-06T17:36:20+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"325967336268610207129603328180180046926","date":"2026-02-12T13:37:35+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"187325475037011489606275623665738597543","date":"2026-02-12T08:06:21+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-02-10T21:07:41+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"119068706174937647045299767229947174681","date":"2026-02-10T20:34:49+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-01-19T12:45:51+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-11-27T19:01:56+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-10-16T09:16:33+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","date":"2025-10-16T09:13:10+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"humanities-and-social-sciences-communications","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"palcomms","sideBox":"Learn more about [Humanities \u0026 Social Sciences Communications](http://www.nature.com/palcomms/)","snPcode":"41599","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41599/3","title":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"3a841c7c-87d3-46ac-a2dd-7cc88a663c0e","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 21st, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":61421756,"name":"Biological sciences/Psychology"},{"id":61421757,"name":"Social science/Psychology"},{"id":61421758,"name":"Social science/Sociology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-01-21T20:27:55+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-01-21 20:27:55","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7505879","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7505879","identity":"rs-7505879","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}