Human Capital and Workplace Integration: A Reflection of South African Migrants in Australia

Abstract

The extent to which human migration has grown over the last two decades partially reflects the strategic approach that some countries have taken to address shortages in skills and expertise. Evidence suggests that migrants are however often underutilised or underachieve, leading to a sub-optimal outcome and often a result of the human capital recognition deficit, both by the migrant and the country of destination. The deficit is partly driven by the range of difficulties associated with workplace integration and acculturation, arguably part of the extensive range of losses experienced by migrants. This paper postulates the argument that a timely and appropriate intervention in the workplace integration process will alleviate the human capital recognition deficit and allow migrants to make a more significant contribution to the workplace in a shorter period of time. This paper reflects on experiences reported by South African migrants in Australia. It focusses on the narrative of workplace exposure and identifies three major groupings. First there is the overall experience of ‘not knowing’, followed by a willingness to tackle the ‘new and difficult environment’. Finally respondents report a capability to ‘respond’, and in a sense outperform their perceived diminished human capital value. Overall the paper confirms that the experiences of South African migrants in Australia mirror experiences reported in other migration studies. Personal observations and comments in the study do however confirm the benefits that an employer based support system holds in minimizing the human capital deficit. In recent times human migration has assumed significant proportions, to the extent that by 2008 approximately three (3) per cent of the world population were considered migrants (Enderwick et al., 2011). While many factors facilitate global migration those countries that recognised its potential as a source of economic growth and development have also fuelled it. Through a combination of pull factors, including prominent government migration policies, countries such as the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia have succeeded in attracting significant numbers of skilled migrants to their shores. It is now generally accepted that these countries have benefitted substantially from immigration.