Project investigator (Project leader)

Siddartha Aradhya

Project participants

Raffaele Grotti (European University Institute), Maria Brandén (Stockholm University and Institute of Analytical Sociology, Linköping University), Juho Härkönen (European University Institute, Stockholm University), Sara Ayllón Gatnau (University of Girona).

Funding source

Vetenskapsrådet, the Swedish Research Council

Duration of the project

3 years 


This project applies a life course perspective to study socioeconomic inequalities in terms of unemployment and income poverty dynamics between second generation immigrants and ancestral Swedes. Although not commonly applied to study immigrant integration, this perspective is inherently suited due to its focus on the development of inequality—persistence, divergence, or convergence—over individuals’ lives. Furthermore, we will approach this topic from three levels of analysis: micro, meso, and macro.

First, using Swedish population register data, we will analyse micro-level state-dependence or “stickiness” – defined as the causal effect of past unemployment/poverty on the current experience of the same outcome. This dynamic is particularly relevant because it is likely to reinforce origin group inequalities, namely the differences between groups with foreign origin relative to ancestral Swedes.

Beyond studying unemployment and poverty dynamics at the individual level, we will test how residential segregation and neighborhood characteristics affect state dependence in unemployment and poverty.

Finally, we will extrapolate these results from a macro perspective to understand the societal consequences of inequalities in unemployment and poverty dynamics between second generation groups and ancestral Swedes.

Not only will this provide a deeper understanding current levels of ethnic inequality, but also shed light on how they may develop in the future.