Is employment enough? Exposure to natives at work and immigrants’ cultural assimilation

A key assumption of contemporary policies targeting immigrants is that employment fosters assimilation, as exemplified by the work-first approach used in migrant assimilation policies throughout Europe. In this article, we argue that while employment generally fosters cultural assimilation, employment itself may not be enough. A prerequisite is contact with or exposure to natives at work. This is shown using survey data collected among non-Western immigrants living in Denmark. The survey data is merged with Danish register data, which allows us to calculate the degree of exposure to natives at work for each non-Western immigrant. Our results add to the existing literature by showing that part of the positive association between employment and assimilation found in previous studies is mediated through workplace exposure to natives. We also demonstrate that experiencing discrimination may offset the potential positive association between intergroup workplace contact and cultural assimilation.