Cultural representations of immigrant workers by service providers and employers

Cultural perceptions by immigrant service providers and employers potentially shape the employment trajectories of immigrants. I examine perceptions of what motivates immigrants to participate in the Canadian labour market through a Vancouver-based interview survey with immigrant service providers, employment counsellors, NGO administrators and employers who service and/or employ newcomers from South Asia and the former Yugoslavia. The results reveal that multiple perceptions coexist. These perceptions project that immigrants work as a means of survival, a moral obligation, a quest for social distruction and an instrument of social integration. Our understanding of ethnic segmentation of immigrant labour should consider these perceptions.     

Employment, ethnicity and metropolitan context: The case of young Canadian immigrants

Although employment of young immigrants is a concern for policy-makers and an expectation of Canadian society, we know relatively little about the labour market performance of young immigrants. A series of logistic regression analyses of a sample of 492,048 youths from the 1996 Public Use Microdata File (PUMF) examines the influence of ethnicity and metropolitan context on the employment probabilities of immigrant and Canadian-born youths between the ages of 15 and 18. The article interprets the results in the light of the existing literature and discusses policy implications.     

Labour Market Discrimination: the Lived Experiences of English-Speaking Caribbean Immigrants in Toronto

The study examined the lived experiences of immigrants in Toronto from Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, with emphasis on their perceptions and experiences of labour market discrimination. The study employs a qualitative methodology and adopts a critical policy research framework which included a series of in-depth interviews. Based on the central argument that there is a disjuncture between the human capital model used at the policy level and the understanding of immigrant human capital on the ground, the study has found structural and institutional practices inherent in the Canadian labour market that are principal reasons for many immigrants’ poor labour market outcomes. Evidence from the study strongly suggests that there is an issue of racism and sexism at play in the Canadian labour market that negatively affects outcomes for Caribbean immigrants in Toronto.     

Recruitment sources and organizational attraction: A field study of Belgian nurses

Previous research on recruitment sources has mostly focused on posthire instead of prehire outcomes and has typically applied a very rudimentary classification of sources on the basis of the formal–informal distinction. The present study relied on a theory-driven taxonomy to identify four major types of recruitment sources (recruitment advertising, recruitment events, publicity, and word of mouth) and applied a source credibility perspective to predict differential relationships of these sources with organizational attractiveness. In a sample of 184 job-seeking nurses in Belgium, characterized by a high labour market demand, it was found that job seekers who spent more time on receiving employment information through experiential recruitment sources such as events and word of mouth perceived this information as more credible. In addition, job seekers' exposure to word of mouth was strongly positively related to their attraction to organizations as an employer. This relationship was partially mediated by the perceived credibility of the received employment information. Therefore, the results of this field study suggest that to enhance their attractiveness as an employer for job seekers, especially those in high demand on the labour market, recruiting organizations should provide credible employment information and stimulate the use of word of mouth as a recruitment source.     

Getting a foothold: Male immigrant employment integration and structural change in Sweden, 1970–1995

In this article the employment performance of native and foreign-born men in Sweden is examined in the period 1970–1995. Using longitudinal data, the relative chance of obtaining first employment during the first two years in the labour market for natives and various immigrant groups is estimated. The main hypothesis tested is to what kind and what degree structural changes in the labour market affect the employment performance of various immigrant groups. The results show that since the middle of the 1980s, there has been a change in employment performance among immigrant men, who are perceived to be culturally and linguistically less close to Sweden. It is during this period that structural changes in the labour market occurred, in particular the organizational and technological changes that demand more communicativeand interpersonal skills, that is, Sweden-specific skills.     

“When is my Dutch good enough?” Experiences of refugee women with Dutch labour organizations

The basic assumption in the Dutch dominant discourse on integration is that knowledge of the Dutch language when combined with education is the key factor for integration into society. The aim of this article is to show how female refugees who have completed higher education in the Netherlands experience the process of integration into the Dutch labour market through contacts with and in Dutch organizations. We situate the narratives of these women in the broader discursive context of the Netherlands and show what these experiences can tell us about the policies and debates on integration in the Netherlands.     

A Comparison of Wages by Gender and Region of Origin for Newly Arrived Refugees in the USA

The resettlement model supported by the US government aims to help recently arrived refugees achieve economic self-reliance within the first 90 to 180 days of arrival. In addition to the challenges they face in adapting to their new locations, however, refugees enter a US labor market characterized by preexisting wage disparities based on race and gender. Meanwhile, recent changes in US refugee and immigration policies have infused debates over nationalism, Islamophobia, and the economics of resettlement. In this context, it is critical to assess whether refugees face wage discrimination that may affect their ability to become economically self-reliant. Drawing on the International Rescue Committee’s administrative data on refugee resettlement, we examine the extent to which starting wages for newly arrived refugees differ by region of origin and gender. The study found consistent gender pay gaps among the majority of new arrivals. The study also identified lower wages for refugees arriving from sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean compared to other regions. These trends suggest a need for more consistent agency monitoring of employment placement, and the development of strategies to ensure more equitable employment outcomes for refugees.     

A Bourdieuian Analysis of Job Search Experiences of Immigrants in Canada

Drawing on qualitative interviews, this paper examines the labour market integration experiences of immigrants from Turkey to Canada. Analysis is framed in the context of Bourdieu’s theoretical framework in order to understand the ways in which members of certain immigrant groups follow varied integration trajectories. This paper contributes to the literature by first focusing on the experiences of immigrants who arrived with varied levels of education and under different immigration classes, settling in diverse segments of the labour market and, second, by exploring strategies developed to deal with job search challenges. The findings show that capital and habitus travelled with participants from Turkey and that the intersection of their immigration status with the set of written and unwritten rules of the Canadian labour market and its subfields (both professional and non-professional) shaped their integration experiences.     

Les nouveaux «Gastarbeiter»? Les réfugiés sur le marché du travail suisse

With about 28,000 asylum requests a year since 1990, Switzerland is one of the western countries with the highest inflow of refugees. The aim of this article is to answer two questions: What is the role of refugees in the Swiss economy? and what are the factors influencing their incorporation into the labour market? The research is based on the multivariate analysis of an individual database of 110,000 asylum seekers and refugees, in-depth interviews and 174 questionnaires to refugees and employers.     

Work and immigrants: An analysis of employment activity in the first ten years of establishment in the Montreal area

The Quebec labour market of the last two decades has undergone profound changes due to progress in information technology and market globalization. This new context has generated new forms of work which have been termed” non-standard work”. Since the early eighties, the number of such positions has been growing significantly. Often associated with precarious employment activity, the phenomenon of non-standard work has raised a fundamental question: are these positions stable? This is the main question that we wish to investigate from the perspective of new immigrants: do new immigrants achieve stability in the labour market upon arrival in Quebec? In a society that has, quite often for demographic and economic reasons, welcomed an average of 35,000 newcomers every year since the early 90s, the success (or failure) of economic integration rests in part on immigrants’ capacity to participate in the labour market and remain employed. Our analysis is based on a longitudinal survey that describes the biographical trajectories of the Settlement of New Immigrants (SNI). This survey describes the main attempts of 1,000 immigrants’ to establish themselves over a period of 10 years in the greater Montreal area. This research mainly shows that continuous sequences of employment are growing overtime, thus ensuring new immigrants greater stability in the labour market. On the other hand, results suggest that racial discrimination modulates labour market participation, in particular for natives of North Africa and the Middle East.     

Being Employed by a Co-national: A Cul-de-sac or a Short Cut to the Main Road of the Labour Market?

This paper analyses the impact of working in an ethnic economy on subsequent labour market performance for newly arrived immigrants. Is it a short cut to the labour market or does it lock immigrants into low income jobs? Working in an ethnic economy is defined as being employed by a self-employed co-national. The comparison group is a matched sample of newly arrived immigrants who were without employment during the same period. Swedish panel data for the period 1998?C2005 are used, and the sample is restricted to male immigrants, 20?C55?years of age. Using propensity score matching, we find that immigrants who were employed by self-employed co-nationals are more likely to be employed in the near future, but that the types of employment they have are associated with lower incomes. Many continue to be employed by self-employed co-nationals or become self-employed themselves.     

Factors Associated With Early Employment Among Refugees From the Former Soviet Union

The relationship among select demographics, vocational service, and job placement among refugees from the former Soviet Union was investigated. Vocational service and employment history were tracked for 12 months for 379 Soviet refugees who were employable adults under age 55, whose first visit to Jewish Vocational Service Chicago occurred between October 1 and December 31, 1991. Employment was related to gender, marital status, and age as well as to proficiency level in English as a Second Language and vocational service. Results of a logistic regression analysis suggest that the frequency of contact with a job developer, age, and gender were indicators of early employment. Implications for employment counselors working with refugees are noted.     

Native Language and Immigrant Labour Market Outcomes: An Alternative Approach to Measuring the Returns for Language Skills

In contrast with the conventional approach of studying the interrelation between immigrants’ language skills and their chances of succeeding in the host country labour market, this article explores the relevance of having and not having a mother tongue in common with the native population for otherwise similar immigrants. This is accomplished by using linked register data from two countries, which makes it possible to separate people according to their native language. We find that immigrants who have their mother tongue in common with natives have substantially higher employment and income levels than immigrants who originate from the same country, but whose native language is linguistically different from the dominant language of the host country. The results support the view that language is a fundamental part of immigrants’ human capital and thus promotes their labour market outcomes.     

Regional Disparities in Employment of High-Skilled Foreigners – Determinants and Options for Labour Migration Policy in Germany

We investigate the regional disparities in high-skilled foreign employment in Germany. The importance of different factors that influence highly qualified migrants’ decision to migrate to specific regions and especially the role of labour migration policy is analysed. Our results show that labour market variables and the supply of tertiary education are important for the location choice. Based on these empirical results, we discuss options of decentralised labour migration policy in Germany.     

Immigrant Youth and Employment: Lessons Learned from the Analysis of LSIC and 82 Lived Stories

Finding a job has become a critical challenge to many youth. Immigrant youth, who have been a key part of the global migrants, are particularly vulnerable when entering the job market of the host country due to various structural barriers. However, in both public policy discourse and research, their labour market experience tends to be overlooked. In this paper, we report the employment experience of recently arrived immigrant youth based on an analysis of the LSIC and findings of in-depth interviews of 82 immigrant youth in four cities in Canada. Our results reveal that recently arrived immigrant youth tend to work in lower-skilled employment, experience significant delays in finding employment, have difficulties with foreign credential recognition, and have fewer means to access to job markets.     

Immigrant Employment Success in Canada, Part I: Individual and Contextual Causes

An interdisciplinary synthesis of Canadian research on immigrant employment success points toward key research priorities. Four determinants of immigrant employment success are widely recognized as significant: immigration policy and settlement patterns, “entry” and assimilation over time, lower value of immigrant human capital, and origins of immigrants and the possibility of discrimination. Other determinants include labour market niches, social and cultural capital, and institutional contexts. Addressing key research priorities—and distinguishing individual and contextual causes—will require new analytic strategies and sources of data. A companion paper, Part II: Understanding the Decline, applies the framework presented here to research on declining employment success for immigrants.     

Between Opportunity and Constraint: Understanding the Onward Migration of Highly Educated Iranian Refugees from Sweden

In the 1980s and early 1990s, more than 50,000 Iranian refugees moved to Sweden. The Swedish state attended to their immediate needs, providing housing, language training, and other types of support. Moreover, these migrants had almost immediate access to all the benefits of the Swedish welfare state including affordable healthcare, unemployment insurance, and free education up to and including the tertiary level. Despite the opportunities available to them in Sweden, many Iranian refugees have faced challenges, especially when trying to secure meaningful work. One of the strategies they have used to overcome barriers to entering the labor market is to leave Sweden for onward destinations which are seen as having relatively more to offer. This study explores the onward migration of Iranians from Sweden by way of a two-step mixed methods approach: in the first step, population register data is used to determine how onward migrants differ from those Iranians who stay in Sweden. In the second step, information from life history interviews conducted with onward migrants in London and Toronto is used to understand what motivates individuals to leave Sweden. Overall, the study finds that highly educated Iranians who have struggled to find employment in Sweden are the most likely to move on. Their precise motivations for doing so, however, are nuanced and complex and relate to more than just economic factors.     

The Complementarity of the Irish and British Liberal Market Economies and Skilled EU Migration Since 2004 Compared to the Swedish Coordinated Market Economy

This paper sets out to explain why the UK and Ireland have received a higher proportion of skilled and highly educated European migrants since 2004 than Sweden, arguing that the features of the formers’ liberal market economies as described in the Varieties of Capitalism literature are more complementary to skilled temporary migration than those of Sweden’s coordinated market economy. The flexible labour market, the short-term employment relationships, the emphasis on general education and the centrality of competition in the Irish and British labour markets are identified as the main features attracting skilled temporary European migrants. This stands in contrast to Sweden’s emphasis on specialised vocational training, long-term employment relationships and a rigid, less accessible labour market. These findings imply that European coordinated market economies, in need of skilled migrants due to demographic changes, have to create strong institutional incentives to compete with liberal market economies for skilled migrants.     

Labour market integration of refugees in Norway under changing macro-economic conditions

This paper describes the transition to ordinary employment among thirteen single-year cohorts of refugees who settled in Norway from 1987 to 1999. The refugees are observed once a year from 1992 to 1999 on the basis of register data. A central issue is how belonging to a certain settlement cohort, duration of residence in the receiving country, and observation period affect the chance of being employed. The effect of changing business cycles is also addressed. Earlier conceptions that macro-economic conditions at the time of settlement are more important for the chance of employment than duration of residence are tested and refuted.     

The Political Justification of Migrant Workers in Alberta,Canada

Considering a series of oil-driven economic booms, the use of inter-provincial and international migrant labour has become an important part of labour market policy in the Canadian province of Alberta. The increased use of temporary foreign workers is controversial. Narrative analysis of legislators’ statements in the legislature and the press between 2000 and 2011 reveals the government using three narratives to justify policies encouraging greater use of foreign migrant workers: (1) labour shortages require migrant workers, (2) migrants do not threaten Canadian jobs and (3) migrants are not being exploited. Close scrutiny of each narrative demonstrates them to be largely invalid. This suggests a significant disconnect between the real and espoused reasons for the significant changes to labour market policy, changes that advantage employers and disadvantage both Canadian and foreign workers. The findings are relevant to understand the political dynamics of economically related migration.