In spite of a growing literature concerned with the labour-market performance of children of non-western immigrants in Norway, there exists little quantitative evidence about how these differences play out at the very top of the education distribution: Does immigrant background matter for those who have completed a master’s degree? We study the transition from education to work for this particular group in Norway. How do they fare compared to their equally highly educated peers with Norwegian-born parents? Our analyses show that immigrant background does not matter for employment probability after completing the master’s degree. Among those employed, immigrant background is associated with higher hourly wages for women with a master’s degree, but not for men, when we control for field of study programs and grades obtained in higher education. A similar pattern applies to annual income from work. Immigrant background is positively associated with higher business income among those with a master’s degree, especially among women, but the difference is largely due to field of study. Having better grades in higher education is associated with higher employment rates, hourly wages, annual salary and business income. This applies equally to graduates with and without immigrant background, whereas the relationship is generally weaker for women. © 2019 Author(s).

Higher education Integration Labour-market outcomes Immigration second generation

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