Sébastien Willis

I am an applied economist, specialising in labour economics and the economics of migration. My work focuses in particular on the use of personal networks in job search and on the labour market outcomes of migrants.

I am currently a researcher at the Institute for Housing and Urban Research (IBF) at Uppsala University, research coordinator for the Uppsala Immigration Lab and am affiliated to UCLS and TTPI. I completed my PhD in Economics at Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

Email: sebastien.willis [at] ibf.uu.se  /  Curriculum Vitae

It's who you used to know: Professional networks, heterogeneity, and inequality

Professional networks and the labour market assimilation of immigrants
with Olof Åslund and Mattias Engdahl
IFAU Working Paper 2024:9; submitted

The dynamics of ethnic segregation in the German labour market

Workplace segregation and the labour market performance of immigrants
Labour Economics, Vol. 93 (2025)

Language learning and immigrant integration in Sweden
I am conducting a survey of immigrants' subjective beliefs about the returns to language learning, in collaboration with Uppsala municipality. Ethical approval granted (Dnr 2024-04412-01), pilots completed, data collection ongoing (October 2025).

Peer effects in immigrant language classes (with Olof Åslund)
We study how interactions in Swedish language classes shape immigrants' early career trajectories.

Refugee Assimilation Across Scandinavia (with Jacob Nielsen Arendt, Bernt Bratsberg, Mette Foged, Olle Hammar, Giovanni Peri, Oddbjørn Raaum, and Edith Zink)
We study the determinants of dramatic improvements in recent refugee cohorts' early labour market integration when compared to earlier cohorts in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.

Language learning and immigrant integration in Sweden
IFAU, 976 000 SEK (€85 000), 2025–26

Academic visit to Australian National University
Handelsbankens stiftelser, 30 000 SEK (€2 600), 2024