Towards a Common Theory of Second-Generation Assimilation: Comparing US and European Studies on Education and Labour Market Integration

This dissertation explores the phenomenon of increased use of online discussion forums by newcomers to Canada to access labour market knowledge. Drawing on extant literature on social support, knowledge exchange, and online technology affordances, I examine the role of online discussion forums in newcomers' labour market integration, through an inductive content analysis of 574 discussion threads. Results of this study suggest that the role of online discussion forums is to provide knowledge resources, in the form of information and advice support, which help newcomers make migration decisions and manage their expectations and preparedness, which in turn has the potential to help newcomers with adjustment and labour market integration in the new country. This dissertation contributes to literature on newcomers' adjustment and labour market integration by describing the online discussion forum system and showing that it facilitates access to and exchange of online social support that can help newcomers with adjustment and integration in the new country's labour market. It also expands our understanding of the theory of knowledge exchange and the optimal matching model by examining them in the context of online discussion forums and newcomers' labour market integration. The findings also question the way we think of newcomers' labour market integration and newcomers' knowledge needs at different stages of settlement and suggest that we also need to include and focus more on the pre-arrival stage of migration and better understand online sources of social support. Moreover, I argue that advice support should be recognized as a separate type of social support. This research also makes practical contributions by expanding our understanding of newcomers' interactions in online discussion forums which can inform government and community organizations tasked with supporting newcomers integrate in the labour market. The findings highlight the importance of pre-arrival training and support to migrants and the potential of better utilizing online technologies to reach future migrants and accelerate their adjustment and integration process. Pre-arrival online support facilitates preparation and more accurate expectations prior to migration, which in turn has the potential to facilitate migrants' adjustment and labour market integration.

Labor market integration raises welfare in the absence of distortions. This paper examines labor and goods market integration in a general‐equilibrium model with social capital. The findings are: (i) labor market integration has an ambiguous impact on welfare, and raises it if the goods and labor skills are sufficiently different; (ii) compared to Pareto optimum, labor mobility (social capital) is excessively large (depleted); (iii) trade is superior to labor market integration if trading costs are no higher than private migration costs, otherwise the outcome is ambiguous; and (iv) the creation of new institutions in response to labor market integration has an ambiguous impact on welfare.

BackgroundCoronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Due to the lack of effective treatments for COVID-19, it becomes imperative to assess the geographical differences and trends in the current clinical care and outcomes of COVID-19 in pregnant women.MethodsA PubMed search was performed to screen articles reporting therapeutics and outcomes of confirmed COVID-19 in pregnant women prior to August 27, 2020. We performed searches, quality assessments of eligible studies, extracted and reported data according to PRISMA guidelines. Meta-analyses and cumulative meta-analyses of proportions were performed for estimating each outcome and their pattern over time respectively.ResultsOne thousand two hundred thirty nine pregnant women with COVID-19 from 66 studies were analyzed. In case series analysis reflecting average-risk patients, the proportion of oxygen support, antibiotics, antivirals, and plasma therapy administration except for hydroxychloroquine was substantially higher in Asian studies (55, 78, 80, 6, and 0%) compared to the US (7, 1, 12, 0, and 7%) or European (33, 12, 14, 1, and 26%) studies, respectively. The highest preterm birth and the average length of hospital stay (35%, 11.9 days) were estimated in Asian studies compared to the US studies (13%, 9.4 days) and European studies (29%, 7.3 days), respectively. Even in case reports reflecting severe cases, the use of antivirals and antibiotics was higher in Asian studies compared to the US, Latin American, and European studies. A significant decline in the use of most therapeutics along with adverse outcomes of COVID-19 in pregnant women was observed.ConclusionsGeographical differences in therapeutic practice of COVID-19 were observed with differential rates of maternal and clinical outcomes. Minimizing the use of some therapeutics particularly antibiotics, antivirals, oxygen therapy, immunosuppressants, and hydroxychloroquine by risk stratification and careful consideration may further improve maternal and clinical outcomes.

Based on the theory of labor market segmentation, this study uses the ‘relative price method’ to estimate the labor market integration of 31 provinces and cities in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) from 2007 to 2019, and then empirically examines the nonlinear relationship between labor market integration and tourism development. The results show that, from the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics, the development level of tourism shows an upward trend, while the integration of labor market shows a ‘fluctuating’ upward trend. This shows that with the continuous advancement of the factor marketization policy, the segmentation of the labor market is gradually broken. At the same time, there is a U-shaped relationship between labor market integration and tourism development. When the labor market integration is lower than 19.3, it reduces the tourism development level. However, when the labor market integration exceeds the threshold of 19.3, with the deepening of labor market integration, the development level of tourism is improved. Further research shows that the U-shaped relationship between labor market integration and tourism development is different due to different environmental governance, geographical location and location. Therefore, the relevant departments should take precise measures according to the time and place.

The connection between migration, integration and isolation is currently being discussed in political, psychological and social sciences as well as the area of healthcare. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the social group of female migrants with small children within the categories family, education and labour market integration. It shows the importance of an intensified integration of this specific group that is highly affected by social isolation through lack of educational and labour market integration. Whereas the first part outlines important theories of integration and assimilation, the empirical part allows a more individual consideration of female migrants and may direct future research on the connection of family, education and labour market integration and their impact on other social minority groups.

Foreign immigration is one of the most important recent changes in Italy. As a consequence, similarly to the traditional European receiving countries, the process of integration of immigrants has also become a crucial political issue in Italy. Labour market insertion of migrants is one of the key points of integration. In this chapter, we aim to provide a broad and updated overview of the migrant situation in the Italian labour market. Empirical evidence suggests that the crisis almost equally hits foreigners and Italian workers, without affecting the structural difference of treatments of these two groups. One of the aims of this work is to evaluate if the gap in terms of integration in the labour market and employment probability between foreigners and Italians has widened or decreased, considering that the labour market is probably the main channel of the integration process. The analysis is structured using a multinomial logit model and some contingency descriptive statistics exploiting, together with regular socio-demographic variables, regional and macro-area differences. The data come from the Italian Labour Force Survey (LFS) provided by ISTAT – Italian National Institute of Statistics – a quarterly survey with a rotating sample that provides an extensive overview of Italian labour market actors. Results show that foreigners have a greater employment probability than Italian natives, a probability that turns out to be better for those who arrived in Italy between 2000 and 2004. Nonetheless, foreigners are largely employed in low-paying or underqualified jobs, returning a low-profile picture of foreigners' integration in the Italian labour market.

There are several issues and problems that are inevitably produced by the phenomenon and the emergence of social exclusion. These are, first of all: unemployment, inadequate education, extremely poor housing and an environment characterized by high rates of corruption and crime, insufficient and inadequate care and nursing of the elderly, low level of general health, cases of family breakdown, addiction problems, and discrimination on various grounds. Therefore, the fight against poverty and social exclusion, through the promotion of integration and inclusion in the labor market and social integration, supports marginalized groups and helps their active inclusion in social flows. The inclusion in the labor market of socially excluded groups, accompanied by projects to create a supportive environment, is particularly important and represents the best approach in their social reaffirmation and fight against all forms of social exclusion. In this sense, the development and implementation of social inclusion programs that are regulated by positive legal regulations by the state are crucial. It is the state that should, on the basis of legal regulation and through financial support, encourage social inclusion since this is the only way and basis to ensure the prevention of all forms of discrimination against socially excluded groups of citizens. In this context, the development and implementation of disability education programs are key. Support for such projects increases opportunities for education and subsequent employment and reduces the risk of social exclusion and poverty of socially excluded categories. The presented case study shows that the development and implementation of targeted inclusive education programs will give excellent results in terms of strengthening this marginalized category by improving the conditions of their education without physical and mental barriers, as well as by creating conditions for improving their later employment and labor market integration.

Immigrants’ labour market integration – an important issue for public sector financesIn 2019, around 1.9 million individuals, or about 20 per cent of Sweden’s total population, were born abroad. Against this background the labour market integration of the foreign-born population is of great importance. Immigrants who adapt rapidly to the Swedish labour market will contribute to public sector finances while immigrants who adapt poorly will constitute a burden to the Swedish public sector finances. In this article we shed new light on the issue of immigrants’ labour market integration by presenting new figures obtained from data bases at Statistics Sweden. It emerges that the employment rate is around 9 percentage points higher among native-born males than among foreign-born males (in the 15–74 age group) while it is around 7 percentage points higher among native-born females than among foreign-born females. Some groups are found to have difficulties in entering the Swedish labour market. The employment rate among males and females originating from Asian or African countries is around 15 percentage points lower than the employment rate among male and female natives. Individuals with refugee background have certain difficulties with integration on the labour market. A large share of the individuals from these groups have relatively low educational attainment. This suggests that different measures, such as measures to increase the refugees’ human capital, measures to reduce the employers’ costs of hiring as well as measures to counteract labour market discrimination are needed in order to improve the labour market position of the immigrant population in Sweden.

Civil war experience in the Syrian home country, insecurity and critical life events during migration, or adverse events in the receiving country might affect refugees' mental health. This paper addresses the effects of psychological distress and mental disorders on refugees' labor market integration in Germany between 2016 and 2021. We employ survey data from about 2700 young Syrians, delivering information on individuals' experience of migration and arrival in Germany in 2016. The survey data were successfully merged with register data, delivering detailed information regarding individuals' process of labor market integration and employment status from 2016 to 2021. Overall, the labor market integration of young refugees improved remarkably over time. In 2021, about 69% of the study population was integrated in a wider sense, and 30% was employed in fulltime contracts in 2021. However, the results indicate long-lasting effects of PTSD and mental disorders on individuals' labor market integration, whilst individuals' characteristics related to migration and arrival lose relevance over time and hardly affect labor market integration around five years after arrival. High PTSD scores in 2016 indicate a significantly reduced full-time employment probability in 2021. Anxiety and depression show significant negative effects on individuals' labor market integration, but with a less severe impact compared to a PTSD diagnosis.

Contrasting the conservative German welfare state with the liberal market economy of the United Kingdom, this paper examines how each welfare regime affects the first-birth decisions of men and women under the conditions of either high labour market integration (full-time work in a permanent position) or occupational uncertainty (part-time work or work with a fixed-term contract). The results, which are based on BHPS and GSOEP data, suggest for Germany that occupational uncertainty hampers transitions to parenthood, but are inconclusive for the UK. Among highly educated women in both Germany and the UK, however, a high degree of labour market integration is found to delay family formation. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.) 1. Introduction Family formation is a key turning point in the life course, and for many potential parents today, achieving the financial security necessary to start a family is a difficult and time-consuming process. Recent research has focused on how fertility decisions are shaped by the relationship between social policies, labour market conditions, and the changing gender contract (Oppenheimer 1994, Brewster and Rindfuss 2000, Crompton and Lyonette 2006, McDonald and Meyers 2009). This study extends this research by investigating how individual labour market integration (i.e., obtaining a permanent full-time job that is in line with one's vocational training, and/or acquiring the education or professional record that provides access to such a job) might expedite the realisation of fertility plans by providing the economic resources needed to start a family. The welfare state plays a key role in this process by determining general labour market risks and options. Against this backdrop, couples have to decide whether their family plans require one or both partners to have a stable position in the labour market to compensate for low levels of welfare state support to families (Hobcraftand Kiernan 1995). Furthermore, they must do so in the context of culturally and institutionally embedded gender roles, which in some societies lead to conflicts between the occupational and domestic duties assigned to women. To better understand the role of institutions that structure male and female employment patterns and thereby affect family formation, I compare fertility choices in Germany (East and West) and the United Kingdom. These two countries provide a meaningful basis for comparison because, while they share traditional expectations of female caregivers, the UK has a lower level of welfare state protection and a more deregulated labour market than Germany. Thus, relative to Germany, the institutional features of the UK system tend to encourage female labour market engagement. Although this means that British women face particularly high hurdles in adapting to the competing demands of market and family roles, the total fertility rate in the UK clearly exceeds that of Germany (Figure 1). Against this backdrop, I aim to examine the micro-level mechanisms that explain fertility choices in the context of labour market participation in East and West Germany and the UK. Distinguishing country- and gender-specific effects, my analysis focuses on two aspects of the relationship between labour market integration and fertility decisions: first, I address the question of how the timing of the first birth is affected by the duration of active labour market participation under the assumption of increasing labour market integration over time; and, second, I investigate whether differences in the first- birth risk depend on being firmly established in the labour market, or on being exposed to occupational uncertainties. In other words, I consider the extent to which the fertility decisions of individuals who are strongly integrated into the labour market (defined as having a stable full-time job and/or high income) differ from those of individuals who are poorly integrated (defined as having discontinuous and/or precarious employment patterns). …

Oral 8-methoxypsoralen-UV-A (PUVA) and narrowband UV-B (NB-UVB or UVB TL-01) are effective and widely used treatments for chronic plaque psoriasis. Although the role of PUVA therapy in skin carcinogenesis in humans with psoriasis has been clearly demonstrated, there is still controversy regarding the risk of skin cancer with NB-UVB. Furthermore, there is no clear evidence about the maximum cumulative number of sessions not to be exceeded in a lifetime. To assess the respective cutaneous carcinogenic risks of PUVA or NB-UVB in psoriasis; to estimate the respective dose-relationship between skin cancers and PUVA or NB-UVB; to estimate a maximum number of sessions for PUVA or NB-UVB not to be exceeded in a lifetime. A systematic literature search was carried out in Medline, Embase and Cochrane Library databases from1980 to December 2010 in English and French, with the keywords 'Psoriasis' AND 'UVB therapy' AND 'UVA therapy' AND 'cancer' AND 'skin' OR 'neoplasm' OR 'cutaneous carcinoma' OR 'melanoma'. Of 243 identified references, 49 published studies were included. Most of them (45/49) concerned PUVA therapy, with 41 assessing the risk of non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC) following PUVA. All publications referring to the US prospective PUVA follow-up study revealed an increased risk of NMSC with the following characteristics: risk most pronounced for squamous cell carcinomas developing even with low exposures and increasing linearly with the number of sessions, tumors occurring also on non-exposed skin including invasive penile tumors, risk persisting after cessation of treatment. An increased risk of basal cell carcinomas was observed in patients receiving more than hundred PUVA sessions. The four prospective European studies selected in our review and most of the pre-1990 European and US retrospective studies failed to find a link between exposure to PUVA and skin cancer. Only the most recent cohorts, including three large long-term retrospective European studies comparing records with their respective national cancer registries reported on an independent increased risk of NMSC with PUVA, The risk was lower as compared to the US prospective PUVA follow-up study. Six studies assessed the risk of melanoma following PUVA therapy: two of the three US publications coming from the same PUVA prospective follow-up study revealed an increased risk with more than doubled incidence of both invasive and in situ melanoma among patients exposed to at least 200 PUVA treatments compared with patients exposed to lower doses, whereas the three retrospectives European studies, comparing the incidence of melanoma in PUVA users with national cancer registers, did not find any increased risk of melanoma. No increased risk of skin cancer was evidenced in the four studies specifically assessing the potential carcinogenic risk of NB-UVB. There is an increased risk of skin cancer following PUVA, shown by both US and European studies. The greater risk measured by the US studies may be at least partly explained by high UVA dose exposure and the lighter phototypes of the treated patients. The lack of prospective studies in psoriasis patients treated with NB-UVB constitutes a barrier to the robust assessment of carcinogenic risk of this phototherapy technique.

Organizational practices of migrants' labour market integration have by and large been overlooked in favour of research on societal‐level/macrolevel factors, policies, rules and regulations and their impacts on migrants' positions and perspectives on the labour market in the host country. Organizations are conceptualized as key sites that can open doors for meaningful employment and career progression or close them by way of producing inequalities. This change of focus, which we advocate, has a potential to not only increase our understanding of how migrants' labour market integration is organized and practiced at the organizational level, but also shed light on migrants' own mobilizations and agency in these processes. Research on organizational practices of workplace integration of migrants is also relevant as economic and political migration is still high on the agenda in many European countries, particularly since the so‐called ‘refugee crisis’ in 2015, when hundreds of thousands of refugees made their way to Europe. Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine in 2022 reminds us of the heightened importance of this issue. In this article, we start by outlining what has motivated this Special Section. Next, we briefly review the relevant literature that directly or indirectly focuses on practices of organizing migrants' labour market integration in European host countries. We then introduce the two contributions to this Special Section, presenting and discussing their main lines of reasoning and how each of them answer our call for papers. We conclude by elaborating what is, from our point of view, still missing and suggest possible avenues for future research.

This article focuses on the role that local employment services (LES) play in informal social capital building for young people with a disadvantaged social background. The personal networks of these young people usually embed few useful resources for labour market integration, and LES actions may be an opportunity to informally build a network of contacts with better resources. To explore this possibility, biographical interviews were conducted with 24 young adults who used LES actions, and their employment trajectories were analysed. The findings highlight that these actions—especially those consisting of training or internships—provide social capital that is useful for labour market (re)integration. Linking social capital is the type of social capital that is most useful for job seeking, and it is especially effective in non‐metropolitan rural areas.

Based on the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, this paper studies the impact of opening to the outside world on labor market integration under the mechanism of industrial structure upgrading from the perspective of enterprise ownership structure. The findings are as follows: (1) the increase in opening to the outside world significantly reduces the average wage gap and employment gap between state-owned and non-state-owned sectors, which contributes to the integration of the Chinese labor market; (2) The level of opening to the outside world has a significant effect on the upgrading of industrial structure, industrial upgrading is a mechanism of opening to the outside world affecting our labor market integration; (3) The effect of the level of opening to the outside world on labor market integration has obvious regional characteristics. The findings of this paper have important implications for understanding the relationship between opening to the outside world and labor market integration from the perspective of different enterprise ownership structures and the mechanism of industrial structure upgrading.

This symposium aims at exploring core issues of refugees' labor market integration in Europe. While career, HRM and cross-cultural issues of self-initiated and assigned expatriation have long been in the focus of management scholars in the past, related research on refugees as a particular migrant group with a unique migration context is still scarce, yet strongly needed due to an overwhelming influx of refugees into European countries over the last few years. Thus, using qualitative data from interviews with refugees of different origin and organizational representatives as well as quantitative survey data, the five papers included in this symposium identify and discuss particular challenges refugees striving to obtain employment are facing, including encountered migration stress and identity threats, structural labor market barriers, and devaluation of career capital. Likewise, the symposium also focuses on refugees' and various stakeholders' strategies to manage these challenges. The opening paper, Can I come as I am? Identity threats, coping, and growth, will address threats to refugees' identities as well as coping responses and how these facilitate refugees' personal and work-related growth. The second paper, Refugees' career capital welcome? Its use and transformation by Afghanis and Syrians in Austria, will explore how refugees seek to make use of, and to renegotiate the value of, their existing career capital and what strategies they employ to build new career capital. The third paper, Job search among refugees in Greece: the interface of individual resources and contextual barriers, is a quantitative study that examines the extent to which refugees' individual-level human, social and psychological capital interact with perceived labor market barriers in affecting refugees' job search intensity. Next, An exploration of the integration of refugees into the workplace on the example of Germany, will investigate how migration stress influences refugees' vocational behavior, how refugees cope with migration stress, and what role social support plays in this process. Finally, the paper Refugees' inclusion in Dutch workplaces: A qualitative analysis of facilitators and barriers will explore relevant factors on three conceptual levels: contextual, organizational and individual. Together, these five papers provide fine-grained insights into the particular challenges to refugees' labor market integration and into strategies to successfully address these challenges at the individual, organizational, and societal level.