This article explores how social status and the exploitability of ethnic groups interplays with how employers ascribe skills and suitability to different nationalities through a historical case study of a regional two-tier segment of the Swedish post-war labour market. Drawing on previous research on the connections between social status, skills perceptions and labour market outcomes, the article argues for a more nuanced view where the specific economic and political circumstances play an

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... tant part in making employers perceive ethnic groups to be suitable for unskilled or skilled industrial work. The results show that nationalities that initially had a comparatively high social status could quickly lose any labour market privilege in a labour market segment if circumstances made them exploitable at the same time as employers perceived them to lack skills suitable for skilled industrial work.