Social capital and occupational assimilation of internal migrants in Peru

Abstract Internal migration is one of the phenomena that has shaped the Peruvian population, economy and geography in the last century. This study is based on the premise that migration is a complex process which may cause different effects on people depending on a variety of factors. This is particularly relevant if the aim is to evaluate the performance of migrants in a rigid market, such as the labor market. To that end, mechanisms are proposed, such as the contribution of civil society as well as other institutional arrangements, which can provide a range of benefits and services to members when markets are not perfect, as in the case of occupational elections. Therefore, the present work shows how social capital intervenes in the occupational assimilation of internal migrants in Peru. A simple theoretical model is presented in which it is stated that two types of social capital (ethnic and acquired) can offer different types of services to its members, depending on the level of complementarity of the same with the educational level and the duration of the migrant’s stay in their place of destination (recent and established migrants). Using the National Household Survey (2014) and a multinomial logit estimation, it is found that ethnic social capital increases the probability of performing an elementary occupation for recent migrants only, and that, for established migrants, the social capital acquired increases the probability of performing a highly qualified occupation.