Whatever decomposition is used, it reveals a very different scenario for males and females. In males‘ case, a large proportion of the gap (69% or 68%) is explained by differences in
the observed characteristics. In contrast, only a small proportion of females‘ gap can be
explained by means of the observed characteristics.
Figure 4 reports the contribution of the difference in means of each explanatory variable to the overall explained gap
It is clear that differences in results between men and women are due to differences in economic sector specialization. While male immigrant workers are concentrated in higher risk sectors, female immigrants are specialized in lower risk sectors. As far as women are concerned, the low percentage of explained gap is a direct consequence of economic
sector‘s offsetting effects. As shown in Table 3, it is remarkable that despite the fact that
57% of female immigrants is working in lower risks sectors (such as household activities
and hotel industry), on average they are more exposed to risks than natives. This is due to a large risk gap in almost all other sectors, especially in the most dangerous ones.
Regarding to coefficients, immigrants‘ sector effect is not as important as for natives in
terms of expected risk exposure.
5.3. Oaxaca decomposition results within economic sector
In this section the situation within the most dangerous sectors is analyzed. The aim is to see whether immigrants systematically perform the most hazardous tasks in the most dangerous sectors and to what extend it is consistent with their human capital.
Here are the results for three sectors where workers exposure to risks is relativity high and immigrant workers are overrepresented: Agriculture, hunting and forestry, Manufacturing industries and Construction.