Carlos Palomo Lario, Irena Kogan, Stefanie Heyne, Jana Kuhlemann
{"title":"It takes two to court: Partnership formation in the context of forced migration","authors":"Carlos Palomo Lario, Irena Kogan, Stefanie Heyne, Jana Kuhlemann","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101134","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101134","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Since 2015, Germany has seen a significant influx of Syrian and Afghan refugees, predominantly young, unmarried, Muslim men without well-established co-national communities. Confronted with an often unwelcoming reception context, a key question arises: how likely are these refugees to develop close social ties with the resident population? This study explores the relationship between the attitudes of the resident population in Germany toward partnerships with refugees of varying religious affiliations and educational backgrounds and the likelihood of cross-national partnerships among refugees. By utilising a factorial survey experiment from the 58th wave of the German Internet Panel (GIP; N = 3192) and data from the first wave of the PARFORM survey of Syrian and Afghan refugees (N = 1512), we examine whether these attitudes influence partnership outcomes. Our findings reveal that favourable views of the “average” refugee do not correlate with higher probabilities of cross-national partnerships. Whereas positive views of non-Muslim, highly religious, and low-educated refugees show no relationship with cross-national partnership formation, favourable perceptions of Muslim, lowly religious, and highly educated refugees are associated with a greater likelihood of such partnerships. This study underscores the importance of considering resident population preferences as a critical element in the opportunity structure for refugee integration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"102 ","pages":"Article 101134"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146189208","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Educational expansion, occupational upgrading, and the changing structure of education-occupation linkages in Sweden, 1960–2013","authors":"Xiaojie Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101135","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101135","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Comparative research has shown that education-occupation linkages tend to be weaker in school-based vocational education and training (VET) systems that emphasize general rather than occupation-specific skills, as in the case of Sweden. However, how these linkages have evolved within national skill formation systems remains largely unexplored. Using Swedish register data from 1960 to 2013, this study documents a sharp rise in the overall strength of education-occupation linkage, peaking around 1990, followed by a general decline. The rapid expansion of upper tertiary education and occupational upgrading shifted the educational and occupational composition toward more tightly linked categories. Yet these compositional gains were largely offset by weakening structural linkages at the upper secondary vocational and lower tertiary levels, where ties to specific occupations eroded considerably. In contrast, despite substantial educational expansion, the decline in structural linkage at the upper tertiary level was relatively modest and later showed signs of rebound. These general trends hold across genders, with women benefiting more from occupational upgrading and showing stronger and more stable overall linkage since 1990. Taken together, educational expansion and occupational upgrading appear relatively balanced and have jointly contributed to a closer alignment between the educational system and the occupational structure in Sweden.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"102 ","pages":"Article 101135"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146189210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Does between-school tracking really result in more achievement homogeneous schools? Evidence from 40 countries around the globe","authors":"Silvia Salchegger, Markus Hirczy","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101131","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101131","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A key argument for tracking is that teaching is easier and more effective in groups of students with more homogeneous abilities. These positive effects are based on the implicit assumption that tracking renders learning groups more academically homogeneous. The present study investigated whether within-school achievement variation (WSAV) really decreases after between-school tracking and how at the same time between-school achievement variation (BSAV) develops. Individual student data of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011, the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011, and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 were integrated in a pseudo-panel including 631,368 students from 40 countries. Differences in WSAV and BSAV between fourth grade students (before tracking in all countries) and 15-year-olds (after tracking in early- and mid-tracking countries) were established for the domains of reading, math and science and then meta-analyzed. Results show that in early- and mid-tracking countries WSAV decreased significantly only in the domain of reading but not in math or science. In late-tracking countries WSAV did not change significantly in any domain. On the other hand, BSAV increased largely in early-tracking countries across all domains, whereas it did not change significantly in mid- and late-tracking countries (except for the domain of reading in mid-tracking countries). In sum, a small homogenization of students within schools comes of the expense of a markable heterogenization between schools in early-tracking countries. Results show that between-school tracking is less efficient in establishing homogeneous learning environments than often assumed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"102 ","pages":"Article 101131"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146039192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anne Maaike Mulders , Christoph Janietz , Bas Hofstra , Jochem Tolsma
{"title":"Leaving for more or settling for less: Gendered salary trajectories after leaving academia","authors":"Anne Maaike Mulders , Christoph Janietz , Bas Hofstra , Jochem Tolsma","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101132","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101132","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As the population of PhDs increases, a growing share of researchers find employment outside of academia after doctorate receipt. This attrition is higher among women. While prior studies find that doctoral recipients who work outside academia tend to earn more, some only find these wage premiums for men. Such findings are primarily based on scholars who leave academia immediately after the PhD where wage inequality is often examined over a limited timeframe. We extend on these studies by examining the gendered salary developments among PhDs who have started a career in academia over a period up to 17 years after obtaining doctorate. We use survey data from 4576 individuals who obtained doctorate at universities in the Netherlands, linked to longitudinal Dutch register data on salaries, job characteristics, and family composition. We detail our findings by examining different push and pull factors (i.e. temporary employment, work hours, having a young child, disciplinary background) that explain why men and women’s salaries may develop differently following a transition out of academia. Our results show that leaving academia initially increases wages, but slows wage growth over time. We find that women experience stronger immediate wage gains, but slower wage growth after a transition out of academia than men. While leaving academia may offer short-term financial benefits, particularly to women working part-time or on temporary contracts, it may ultimately limit their salary progression by restricting opportunities for promotion.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"102 ","pages":"Article 101132"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146189211","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"After dropout: Social stratification and the dynamics of educational re-entry in Spain","authors":"Jose David Lopez Blanco","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101128","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101128","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates how social origin shapes second-chance educational trajectories among early school leavers in Spain. Specifically, we focus on youth who exited <em>compulsory lower secondary education</em> (<em>Educación Secundaria Obligatoria</em>, ESO) without obtaining the basic credential. Using nationally representative longitudinal data and applying sequence analysis, event history models, and multinomial logistic regressions, we examine patterns of re-engagement, timing, and final educational outcomes. The results reveal strong and persistent stratification by parental education. Young people from tertiary-educated families are more likely to return to formal education, to re-engage earlier, and to pursue more coherent and upward-oriented vocational pathways. These findings extend the theory of compensatory advantage to a highly selected and vulnerable group, showing that class-based expectations remain remarkably resilient: when academic routes become inaccessible, advantaged families redirect their children toward more feasible yet still advantageous vocational alternatives. The analysis also highlights how opportunity structures shape these trajectories. Labour-market participation delays educational return for all early school leavers, but it also attenuates class differences by reducing reliance on family background; by contrast, unemployment magnifies social-origin gaps. Finally, the expansion of Basic Vocational Training (VT) has facilitated access to second-chance education, yet its role remains ambivalent: while it provides a route to qualification, it frequently acts as a de facto dead end for disadvantaged youth, many of whom do not progress to Medium or Higher VT. Overall, the study underscores the cumulative and class-contingent nature of second-chance opportunities and demonstrates how inequalities are reproduced beyond the initial moment of school leaving.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"102 ","pages":"Article 101128"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145947973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Andreas Filser , Pascal Achard , Corinna Frodermann , Dana Müller , Sander Wagner
{"title":"Stratification of post-birth labour supply in a high- and low- maternal employment regime","authors":"Andreas Filser , Pascal Achard , Corinna Frodermann , Dana Müller , Sander Wagner","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101133","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101133","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper compares the magnitude and stratification of motherhood employment penalties in France and Germany, two countries with contrasting institutional orientations towards maternal employment. While prior research has documented cross-national variation in the size of motherhood penalties, less is known about how macro-level contexts shape their stratification across socioeconomic groups. Using harmonized administrative employment data on 18,948 French and 72,632 German mothers, who were employed prior to first birth between 1997 and 2014, we estimate labour market participation trajectories for five years following childbirth. Across both countries, women with higher pre-birth income, higher education, and employment in higher-wage firms experience substantially smaller reductions in labour supply, with income emerging as the strongest stratifying dimension. Motherhood penalties are markedly smaller in France, amounting to less than one-third of the reduction observed in Germany. Yet penalties in France are more strongly stratified: mothers in the lowest income quintile experience participation losses 3.14 times larger than mothers in the highest quintile, compared to a ratio of 1.17 in Germany. Within Germany, East German mothers face smaller but more stratified penalties than West German mothers. Finally, we test whether the macro-level pattern of larger penalties associated with weaker stratification also generalizes to 65 NUTS-2 regions. We find no systematic association between the size and stratification of motherhood penalties at the regional level. The findings suggest that institutional contexts supporting high maternal employment reduce overall penalties but pose particular challenges for mothers from lower socio-economic backgrounds who reintegrate less rapidly into the labour market.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"102 ","pages":"Article 101133"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146189247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Skills or credentials? How skill specific and standardized vocational training moderates the wages of occupational mismatches","authors":"Kevin Alan Franz Ruf","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101136","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101136","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article examines the relationship between institutional features of vocational education and wage outcomes following occupational mismatches using a multidimensional mismatch framework. Drawing on German administrative data for early‑career male VET graduates, the analysis assesses how two institutional dimensions, training standardization and skill specificity, relate to wage returns for horizontal, vertical, and full mismatches. The results show that higher standardization negatively moderates wage outcomes for horizontal and full mismatches, while greater skill specificity is linked to reduced transferability and increases wage penalties for vertical mismatches. Individuals in full mismatches experience large baseline penalties that appear less conditioned by institutional features. Horizontal mismatches do not show wage penalties when multiple mismatch dimensions are considered simultaneously. These findings suggest that distinct institutional features of the training system, credential verification and skill transferability, relate to mismatch outcomes and contribute to stratification in early‑career wages.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"102 ","pages":"Article 101136"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146189209","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Temporary employment and further training. Does training promote the transition from temporary to permanent employment?","authors":"Alexander Helbig, Martin Ehlert","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101130","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101130","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The article analyses the returns to further training courses among a vulnerable group: the temporary employed. We address the important question of whether non-formal further training promotes the transition to permanent work and thus helps to escape precarious employment trajectories. According to human capital theory, work-related training increases workers’ productivity and might also serve as a positive signal to employers, as signaling theory suggests. On the other hand, firms may combine training and transitions to permanent jobs for selected workers. We use data from the German Educational Panel Study and apply event history models to test these conflicting theoretical assumptions. In general, the results suggest positive effects of non-formal further training on transitions to permanent work. Especially employer-funded training shows a strong correlation with transitions within the same firm, but not with transitions to other firms. This seems to be both due to signaling of motivation and firm internal pathways that combine training and transitions. Individual, self-funded training on the other hand does not seem to affect any transition chances further indicating that firm-internal mechanisms are more important than human capital development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"102 ","pages":"Article 101130"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145981359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Does schooling increase or reduce inequality in achievement and conscientiousness in Denmark?","authors":"Simon Skovgaard Jensen","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101129","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101129","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A growing body of research has established that schooling either reduces, socioeconomic inequality in achievement or contributes equally to student, achievement. However, much of this work focuses on the early years of education and, primarily examines achievement outcomes, with little known about the effects in later, years of school, and other outcomes. This study employs a Differential Exposure, Approach, which exploits (conditionally) random variation in test dates, to assess the, impact of schooling on both students’ reading achievement and conscientiousness.The analysis draws on data from a biennial mandatory reading test administered across all Danish public schools (grades 2–8), as well as a self-reported measure of conscientiousness from an annual mandatory school survey (grades 0–8) linked with the Danish administrative register data. Results indicate that schooling reduces students’ self-reported conscientiousness, whether this reduction reflects true changes to students’ underlying personality or merely reflect temporary school fatigue is unclear. The negative effects were similar across SES. The results show that school exposure enhances reading achievement across all grades, though the marginal returns from an additional month of schooling diminish as students grow older. Schooling reduces the achievement gap in second grade among students within the same schools; however, this effect does not persist in later grades.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"102 ","pages":"Article 101129"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145981358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Personality traits and hiring: Exploring employer preferences through a vignette study in Japan","authors":"Kohei Toyonaga","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101111","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101111","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although noncognitive skills and personality traits are widely recognized as crucial for understanding social inequality, their effects on labor market outcomes remain underexplored. This study investigates how employers evaluate personality traits of job seekers, focusing on Japan, where the widespread adoption of the Synthetic Personality Inventory (SPI)—a screening tool that combines cognitive ability and personality assessments—has made these traits visible from the early stages of the hiring process. Using a vignette experiment, the study finds that when personality traits are visible, employers use this information to decide whom to interview, underscoring the growing importance of personality traits in hiring decisions. However, elite companies are not necessarily more likely than non-elite companies to rely on such traits in the screening process. Instead, they continue to emphasize traditional signals such as educational background. These findings suggest that educational expansion and technological advancements may reshape how employers assess job candidates, potentially leading to an even greater emphasis on personality-based screening. Nonetheless, educational credentials remain a key prerequisite for access to the upper tiers of the labor market, regardless of the visibility of applicants’ cognitive and noncognitive skills.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"101 ","pages":"Article 101111"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145693120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}