Explaining the Muslim employment gap in Western Europe: Individual-level effects and ethno-religious penalties q Phillip Connor a,1 , Matthias Koenig b,1 a Pew Research Center, United States b Göttingen University & Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany article info Article history: Received 13 September 2013 Revised 21 July 2014 Accepted 5 August 2014 Available online 20 August 2014 Keywords: Muslims Europe Employment Economic integration Religion Immigration abstract It is well-documented that Muslims experience economic disadvantages in Western Euro- pean labor markets. However, few studies comprehensively test individual-level explana- tions for the Muslim employment gap. Using data from the European Social Survey, this research note briefly examines the role of individual-level differences between Muslims and non-Muslims in mediating employment differences. Results reveal that human capital, migration background, religiosity, cultural values, and perceptions of discrimination jointly account for about 40% of the employment variance between Muslims and non-Muslims. Model specifications for first- and second-generation Muslim immigrants reveal a similar pattern, with migration background and perceived discrimination being of key relevance in mediating employment difference. While individual-level effects are indeed relevant, unexplained variance suggests that symbolic boundaries against Islam may still translate into tangible ethno-religious penalties. Ó 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Economic disadvantages among Muslims, who constitute a substantial share among immigrants in Europe (Pew Research Center, 2012), have received wide attention in the media and within academic scholarship. It is indeed striking that the most disadvantaged migrant groups across European labor markets, such as North Africans in France, Turks in Germany or Paki- stanis in the UK, come from Islamic countries of origin. Numerous studies in the burgeoning literature on ‘‘ethnic’’ penalties have amply documented that Muslims tend to have lower rates of labor force participation, employment, and occupational attainment (Bisin et al., 2011: 7; Cheung, 2014; Connor, 2014; Connor and Koenig, 2013; Lessard-Phillips et al., 2012; Luthra, 2013; Van Tubergen et al., 2004, see also Pichler, 2011). To be sure, the migration background of the Muslim population makes it notoriously hard to strictly distinguish ethnic from religious penalties; among religiously homogenous immigrant groups such as Moroccans, Pakistanis, or Turks it is virtually impossible to distinguish ethnic from religious penalties. Yet, several methodologically innovative studies have demonstrated that religious difference, being Muslim in particular, does indeed have an independent effect upon labor market performance (Khattab, 2009; Lindley, 2002; Model and Lin, 2002). Thus, Heath and Martin (2013) in their standard-setting study on labor market performance in the United Kingdom find a http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.08.001 0049-089X/Ó 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. q Previous versions of this article were presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Conference (2013), Population Association of America Conference (2014) and at the Council of European Studies Conference (2014); we thank audiences as well as the five referees of this journal for their helpful comments and suggestions. 1 Both authors have contributed equally to the present article. E-mail addresses: pconnor@pewresearch.org (P. Connor), mkoenig@gwdg.de (M. Koenig) Social Science Research 49 (2015) 191–201 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Social Science Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ssresearch