Research
Publications
Lopez Blanco, J.D. (2026), After dropout: Social stratification and the dynamics of educational re-entry in Spain
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This study investigates how social origin shapes second-chance educational trajectories among early school leavers in Spain. Specifically, we focus on youth who exited compulsory lower secondary education (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, ESO) without obtaining the basic credential. Using nationally representative longitudinal data and applying sequence analysis, event history models, and multinomial logistic regressions, we examine patterns of re-engagement, timing, and final educational outcomes. The results reveal strong and persistent stratification by parental education. Young people from tertiary-educated families are more likely to return to formal education, to re-engage earlier, and to pursue more coherent and upward-oriented vocational pathways. These findings extend the theory of compensatory advantage to a highly selected and vulnerable group, showing that class-based expectations remain remarkably resilient: when academic routes become inaccessible, advantaged families redirect their children toward more feasible yet still advantageous vocational alternatives. The analysis also highlights how opportunity structures shape these trajectories. Labour-market participation delays educational return for all early school leavers, but it also attenuates class differences by reducing reliance on family background; by contrast, unemployment magnifies social-origin gaps. Finally, the expansion of Basic Vocational Training (VT) has facilitated access to second-chance education, yet its role remains ambivalent: while it provides a route to qualification, it frequently acts as a de facto dead end for disadvantaged youth, many of whom do not progress to Medium or Higher VT. Overall, the study underscores the cumulative and class-contingent nature of second-chance opportunities and demonstrates how inequalities are reproduced beyond the initial moment of school leaving. - Research in Social Stratification and Mobility Volume 102, April 2026, 101128 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.70050](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101128 .
Lopez Blanco, J.D. (2025), From Students to Movers: Linking Internal and International Migration Trajectories Among Spanish Bachelor’s and Advanced Vocational Training Graduates
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The relationship between internal and international migration has traditionally been overlooked in migration research. Seeking to bridge this divide, we examine the cumulative, socioeconomically selective and functionally differentiated nature of youth spatial mobility. Using harmonized microdata from two nationally representative surveys of bachelor's graduates and advanced vocational trainees from the 2013/2014 cohort, we examine the role of pre-graduation mobility, social origin and field of study in shaping postgraduation migration outcomes. Our findings show that any form of educational mobility is a strong predictor of subsequent migration. Migration trajectories are also stratified by parental education, with graduates from more privileged backgrounds more likely to engage in international or complex mobility paths. Additionally, migration motives and patterns vary by migration type and field of study, supporting a functional differentiation between internal and international mobility. These results highlight how different forms of mobility are embedded in cumulative life-course processes and socially structured opportunity regimes, underscoring the need for more integrated theoretical and policy approaches to youth migration. - Population, Space and Place, 31(5), e70050 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.70050 .
Lopez Blanco, J.D. (2025) Return to the South: Economic (Re)integration of Return Migrants, Internal Migrants, and Non-Migrants in Post-Recession Spain of the 2010s
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This study investigates the labor market reintegration of intra-EU return migrants in Spain, comparing them with internal migrants and non-migrants. Using data from two nationally representative surveys of university graduates and vocational trainees, we analyze employability, earnings, and occupational status. Contrary to expectations, return migrants face employment disadvantages relative to non-migrants and internal migrants. However, they benefit from earnings premiums, particularly among those with extended migration experiences or who relocate upon their return. Occupational status outcomes are mixed: while return migrants initially demonstrate advantages, these diminish after accounting for selection bias. Proficiency in English positively correlates with higher earnings across all groups, particularly for return migrants, yet paradoxically aligns with lower occupational specificity. Job-specific experience acquired abroad proves essential for return migrants, helping mitigate disadvantages in occupational status. These findings enhance our understanding of the intricate dynamics of skill transferability and labor market outcomes within the EU, underscoring the importance of migration and return contexts in shaping returnees' reintegration experiences. - >European Societies, 1–46, https://doi.org/10.1162/euso_a_00039 .
Lopez Blanco, J.D. (2025) Do languages open doors? A theoretical model of linguistic capital and (im)mobility and its application in Spanish youth migration
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Language skills have demonstrated their significance in migration decisions; however, their role as a potential cause of immobility has been largely overlooked. In this paper, I first propose a theoretical model that seeks to explain decisions regarding mobility and immobility based on the instrumental returns generated by an individual’s linguistic capital within a given opportunity structure. Secondly, I apply this model utilizing data from university and vocational training graduates in Spain. Leveraging its particularity as a case study, which encompasses five regions where a minority’s co-official language is an integral part of ethnic identification and shares a similar institutional environment that encourages its use, I find that bilingualism is primarily linked to internal immobility. Simultaneously, it affects the direction of internal migration, since bilinguals are more inclined to relocate to areas with similar language conditions. Bilingualism also presents indirect effects. The results indicate that bilingualism influences international migration by facilitating the acquisition of a foreign language, which becomes increasingly attainable as the cost of language acquisition decreases, though the effect remains relatively small. - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 51(3), 565-582 DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2024.2359676 .
