Abstract
Successful integration of newly arriving refugees requires the engagement of the receiving community and active facilitation of integration through provision of employment, access to housing, and protection of basic rights. Understanding how local entities effectively facilitate integration is important for policymakers and scholars interested in identifying best practices and replicating outcomes. This study examines the integration outcomes of refugees who participated in a vocational hospitality training program in Chicago, Illinois between 2008 and 2012. In particular, we explore the integration experiences—using employment, housing, and homeownership—of Bhutanese origin refugees who represented the largest country of origin group in the hospitality course. We find that the Bhutanese refugees who participated in the course had high rates of homeownership, stable employment, higher wages and experienced socioeconomic upward mobility—positive indicators of integration. In our analysis, we identify three reasons the program is successful in facilitating integration: a practice of selective enrollment, active employer engagement, and informed industry selection. Importantly, our findings suggest a positive benefit for employers in addition to refugee employees.
Highlights
Successful integration can only take place if the host society provides access to jobs and services, and acceptance of the immigrants in social interaction. (Castles et al 2002)Integration scholars have called attention to the need to understand integration as a two-way process
We review the relevant literature on integration processes, focusing on integration for refugees in North America
We focus on the trajectories of refugees who participated in the program in the five years after arrival
Summary
Successful integration can only take place if the host society provides access to jobs and services, and acceptance of the immigrants in social interaction. (Castles et al 2002). Refugees are in a somewhat privileged position in the United States because their protected status entitles them to particular forms of social protection and social services (Castles et al 2002) designed to facilitate settlement and integration. We find that the program facilitates integration because it has targeted an industry that offers livable wages, and, in most cases, a fixed schedule. This allows for refugees to support themselves and, in many cases, to use those resources to pursue goals outside of work. In our discussion that follows, we highlight the significant aspects of this program that we identify as important to facilitating integration
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