Why migrants earn less: In search of the factors producing the ethno-migrant pay gap in a Dutch public organization

In many countries, migrant / ethnic minority workers earn less than non-migrant / ethnic majority employees. This pay gap is not only attributable to migrant / ethnic minority employees having acquired less human capital or social capital, to the impact of government policies and to discrimination. Based on both qualitative and quantitative data collected in 2010, this case study of the job segregation component of the wage disadvantages of migrant employees in a Dutch public organization identifies several other factors. Migrant workers’ / ethnic minority employees’ lower levels of participation in work-related communication and the application of socio-ideological labour control also widen this earnings gap. Moreover, migrant workers’ / ethnic minority employees’ institutional and relational uncertainties, due to their subordinated position in Dutch society, help to understand their lower levels of participation in work-related communication and how socio-ideological labour control works out negatively for them.