Intermarriage and Immigrant Income Assimilation in Sweden 2003

Martin Dribe, Lund University
Christer Lundh, Lund University

Intermarriage, or marital exogamy, is often seen as a key to immigrant assimilation. In this paper, intermarriage (especially between immigrants and natives) is studied for a large number of immigrant groups in Sweden using log-linear analysis of the entire population between 16 and 64 in 2003. In total we analyze 25 different immigrant groups, and compare with natives. The data include about 1.1 million married couples. Furthermore, the link between intermarriage and income assimilation is analyzed using logistic regression. Theoretically we connect to a human capital framework in which marrying a native is assumed to give the individual immigrant access to a native network, which tends to increase his or her position in the labor market.