Immigrant Workers Research Articles

가족이주 정책의 특성과 한국 가족이주 정책 사례 검토

Family migration policies tend to be restrictive depending on immigrants’ visa status or socioeconomic status despite the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizing that the family is entitled to protection by society and the state. The current study introduced global debates over family migration and investigated the Korean family migration policy. Family migration can influence on immigrants’ social integration in both positive and negative ways. Still, the current Korean family migration policy does not reduce the negative influences of family migration on social integration. Further, the policy might deter immigrants’ social integration by confirming the hierarchies among immigrants in Korea. This study argues that the Korean government should fill gaps in family migration policy, especially for the citizens’ parents, immigrant workers, and children and adolescents with migration backgrounds.

Analysis of English Learning Strategies of Children of Immigrant Workers in Informal Schools in Malaysia

Education is the main key that someone needs, to penetrate the gates of educational institutions to get a good education and a brighter future. It should be noted that good education is not only obtained in formal schools but the same opportunities can also be achieved by the children of immigrant workers in Malaysia in an informal school. Although habituation is not always easy, especially in learning English. For this reason, there are many learning strategies that they use including (1) Memory Strategies (2) Cognitive Strategies (3) Compensation Strategies (4) Metacognitive Strategies (5) Affective Strategies (6) Social Strategies. This study aims to analyze the children's learning strategies in learning English, and with quantitative research methods and clear presentations, the author will describe the results of the strategy analysis. The results of this study are in the form of elaboration of percentages to find the strategies most used by students. In conclusion, the writer wants to convey to readers that every child has a different way of learning something.

Between obligations and aspirations: unaccompanied immigrant teen workers’ transnational lives and imagined futures

ABSTRACT Relying on ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews with undocumented Latinx young adults (18–31) who arrived in Los Angeles, California, as unaccompanied minors (11–17), this study examines immigrant youth workers’ migration motives, their transnational ties and transnationalism’s effect on their imagined futures. Findings show that, in the context of structural and community violence and poverty, Central American and Mexican youth migrate alone at young ages, in part to fulfill moral obligations to provide financial and emotional support within networks of care for the families they eventually leave behind. For many, left-behind family’s needs increase as parents and siblings age into new life stages. Unmarried transnational youth workers are especially likely to shoulder moral obligations. This is while they transition into young adulthood in the US and weigh their own prospects for education and occupational mobility in Los Angeles or their home communities. Maintaining moral obligations established in adolescence throughout the transition into young adulthood can cause youth to reimagine futures to include the possibility of staying and other alternatives. This research offers important insights into the changing nature of transnational families, unaccompanied minors’ coming of age, and the lives of migrant youth workers in the US.

Winners and losers from occupational segregation across Europe: the role of gender and migration status

Abstract Using measures rooted in welfare economics, this article quantifies the economic consequences arising from occupational segregation by gender and migration status in twelve European countries. We also identify the most inclusive European labor markets by building counterfactual distributions. In particular, we remove cross-country differences in immigrants’ origin, years of residence, and education, thus determining the contribution that these variables make to the geographical disparities. Our results reveal that the economic consequences of segregation are negative for most foreign workers, especially for immigrant women in Italy, Spain, Germany, and Slovenia. Portugal emerges as a reference point because immigrant workers have a better position compared to other countries, which does not seem to arise from their basic individual characteristics. Our analysis highlights the importance of policy actions aimed at improving the occupational sorting of immigrant workers, such as investing in skills development, avoiding occupational downgrading, and incorporating a gender perspective.

What drives the substitutability between native and foreign workers? Evidence about the role of language

AbstractThis paper investigates the role of language in determining the substitutability between foreign and native workers. Our identification strategy exploits the linguistic diversity of Switzerland, a country with three main official languages (German, French and Italian) shared by bordering countries. This makes the Swiss labour market very peculiar, since both immigrants and natives may (or may not) share the language spoken in the area of residence. We modify the standard nested‐cell labour demand model to account for the linguistic background of native and immigrant workers. We provide evidence about the central role of language in determining the extent of the imperfect substitutability between native and foreign workers, and their differential specialization in communication‐intensive jobs.

A Comparison of Occupational Safety Perceptions among Domestic and Migrant Workers in Turkey

Due to a lack of stability, there has been an increase in migration from neighboring countries to Turkey since 2012. Hence, with the rising rate of migrant workers, issues concerning the employment and occupational safety of migrant workers have emerged. This study aims to compare the occupational safety perceptions and occupational accident levels of domestic and immigrant workers and to offer suggestions for helping immigrant workers work in a sustainable environment in terms of health and safety. The questionnaire was preferred as the data collection method for the research. A total of 11 questions were prepared to obtain information about the workers, and 25 questions were designed to determine their perceptions of occupational safety, for the 125 immigrants and 937 domestic workers who participated in the study. An independent sample t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and linear regression analysis were used. According to the results of this analysis, the safety perception level of migrant workers is lower than that of domestic workers. The safety perception levels of male, young, and inexperienced individuals are lower than all other groups. Age and education level reduce the occupational accident rate of migrant workers. Conversely, while age decreases the occupational accident level, sectorial experience increases the occupational accident rate for domestic workers. The study also offers some suggestions to boost the health and occupational safety level of immigrant workers sustainably.

"Too Many Jobs and Not Enough Hands": Immigrant and Refugee Community Health Workers at the Frontlines of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Refugees and immigrants have experienced heightened health inequities related to COVID-19. As community-embedded frontline health personnel, refugee and immigrant community health workers (riCHWs) played essential roles in the provision of informational, instrumental, and emotional support during the unprecedented first year of the pandemic. Despite the importance of this workforce, riCHWs are at high risk for burnout due to low recognition and demanding workloads. This was exacerbated as riCHWs navigated a new and uncertain health delivery landscape. We sought to glean insight into riCHWs' stressors, coping strategies and resources, and self-efficacy to identify ways to support their work and wellbeing. Using a narrative inquiry approach, we conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 11 riCHWs working in a midsized city in the midwestern United States. We generated three distinct yet interrelated themes: (1) Rapid and trustworthy information is key, (2) Creativity and perseverance are good … structural support is better, and (3) Integrating riCHW expertise into health promotion programming and decision-making. Although riCHWs were deeply committed to enhancing community wellbeing, quickly shifting responsibilities in tandem with structural-level health inequities diminished their self-efficacy and mental health. riCHWs relied on work-based friends/colleagues for informational and emotional support to enhance their capacity to deliver services. Findings suggest increasing opportunities for peer support and idea-exchange, professional development, and integration of riCHW expertise in health promotion decision-making are effective strategies to enhance riCHWs' professional self-efficacy and personal wellbeing.

Is US Labor Law Reform Enough? A Conversation About the “Clean Slate for Worker Power”

In this roundtable, labor studies scholars examine the viability of the Clean Slate for Worker Power project. Engaging themes such as labor law, immigrant workers, and organizing strategies, the contributors debate the limits of U.S. labor law, the tendency of scholars to silo our work and our research without engaging an intersectional approach, and the practical realities that impact the U.S.' low rates of unionization.

Centering Race in Studies of Low-Wage Immigrant Labor

This review examines the historical and contemporary factors driving immigrant worker precarity and the central role of race in achieving worker justice. We build from the framework of racial capitalism and historicize the legacies of African enslavement and Indigenous dispossession, which have cemented an exclusionary economic system in the United States and globally. We consider how racism and colonial legacies create migrant displacement and shape the experiences of immigrant workers. We also detail how racism permeates the immigration bureaucracy, driving migrant worker precarity. The traditional labor movement has played an important role in closing this gap, but increasingly so have worker centers and the immigrant rights movement as a whole. These partnerships have had to navigate coalitional tensions as they build new strategies for realizing immigrant worker rights.

Work–Family Conflict and Its Sustainability Implications among Married Immigrants Working in the USA

There is a paucity of research on the work and family dynamics of immigrants who arrive in the U.S. on visas. Work–family conflict among immigrants is a sustainability issue because it affects social cohesion, economic vitality, and the overall wellbeing of communities. This study examined work–family conflicts and work–life support among married immigrants (n = 182) born abroad but currently holding permanent resident status (also known as ‘green card holders’) in the U.S. Specifically, we examined how work variables (job intensity and work–life support) may either lead to or reduce job burnout, how burnout may be related to work–family conflict, and how these variables influence marital agreement, marital happiness, and job satisfaction. The results suggested that, in general, job factors had direct as well as indirect impacts through burnout, on both work and family outcomes. Job burnout moderated the relationship between work interfering with family and marital agreement. Martial agreement was significantly predicted by multiple variables. Suggestions for future research on this understudied population are offered along with practical and theoretical contributions related to the sustainability of immigrants, their families, and society.

Strategic employment of immigrant and native workers: Was the green card lottery a game changer?

AbstractThis paper examines how employers strategically use immigrant and native workers, within the empirical setting of the U.S. Diversity Immigrant Visa (DIV) program and the National Football League (NFL). Strategic organizations determine their own optimal immigrant‐native mix and consider similar actions and reactions by rival employers, a noncooperative game. DIVs exogenously increased the labor market presence of immigrants. I exploit this fact to examine how NFL clubs subsequently altered their employment of immigrant players. Panel‐based empirical analysis illustrates the hypothesized prevalence of matching in immigrant use among rival clubs, sensitivity of that equilibrium to immigration era, and heterogeneous occupational and organizational consequences.

Corporate influenced state preemption and health: A legal mapping analysis of workers’ rights preemption bills in the US south

Work is a structural determinant of health. As local governments have taken the lead on implementing workers' rights policies, state governments have increasingly been using preemption to block local them. These policies would improve work and employment conditions, particularly for Black, Brown, immigrant, and low-wage workers. Thus, preemption of workers' right policies is an important health equity issue. Legal epidemiology methods were used to analyze and quantify worker's rights preemption bills introduced in southern state legislatures between 2009 and 2019. Between 2009 and 2019, over 100 workers' rights preemption bills were introduced in southern state legislatures, and there was significant variation between states. Preemption of local paid leave and minimum wage ordinances were the most common. Textual analysis of the bills revealed that states prioritize the perspectives of employers instead of workers. State labor policies are prioritizing the perspectives of businesses over workers resulting in a labor environment that creates structural advantages for employers and is hostile to the well-being of workers. Preemption is part of the political and social context that is shaping the association between work and health in and is likely re (creating) racial and economic inequities.

Mobilizing the Rights of Migrant Workers: Swedish Trade Unions’ Engagement with Law and the Courts

ABSTRACT Migrant workers, both regular and irregular, are at particular risk of having their rights violated. At the same time, there has been an absence of support for exploited immigrant workers from Swedish authorities and civil society. Lately, a number of trade unions and semi-union organisations in Sweden have developed methods to mobilize the rights of migrant workers experiencing exploitation on the Swedish labour market. This article investigates strategies utilized by trade unions to mobilize migrant workers’ rights by engaging with the law and the courts. It draws on qualitative interviews with trade union representatives and court judgements from the Labour Court and other civil courts. We identify legal practices that range from immediate legal assistance and everyday negotiations with employers to litigation in court. We show how the practical, aspirational, and creative engagement of a small group of trade union representatives with the law and courts has generated a new form for mobilizing the rights of migrant workers in the Swedish context. This form of legal mobilization is both instrumental and political, driven by the rhetoric of class struggle and a belief in the rights of migrant workers.

What Enables Skilled Immigrant Women to Build Career-important Social Networks?

An aging workforce and a decreasing population have increased the need for immigration and international workers in European societies. The aim of this study is to contribute to literature on international workers and their careers by focusing on skilled immigrant women’s career-important social networks. In particular, it explores what enables the women’s access to such social networks, which support their careers in the country of destination. Qualitative interview data from 26 Russian skilled immigrant women working in information technology (IT) or healthcare in Finland were collected. Qualitative content analysis was done to analyze the data. The results show that the studied skilled immigrant women have many paths to accessing career-important social networks. It is concluded that although skilled immigrant women tend to experience challenges in accessing these networks, they can overcome challenges through their own initiatives and with the help of supervisors and colleagues as well as family members and friends. However, relevant organizational arrangements and practices are needed.

The impact of immigration on the employment dynamics of European regions

This paper provides the first evidence on the regional impact of immigration on native employment in a cross-country framework. By exploiting the richness of the European Labour Force Surveys and past censuses, we show that the rise in the share of immigrants across European regions over the 2010-2019 period had a modest impact on the employment-to-population rate of natives. However, the effects are highly uneven across regions and workers, and over time. First, the short-run estimates show adverse employment effects in response to immigration, while these effects disappear in the longer run. Second, low-educated native workers experience employment losses due to immigration, whereas high-educated ones are more likely to experience employment gains. Third, the presence of institutions that provide employment protection and high coverage of collective wage agreements exert a protective effect on native employment. Finally, economically dynamic regions can better absorb immigrant workers, resulting in little or no effect on the native workforce.JEL codes: F22, J21, J61

An unstable equilibrium: the Italian immigrants' inclusion model facing the pandemic crisis test

The Italian immigrants' inclusion model has been described as a "low unemployment, bad jobs" equilibrium: immigrants have relatively high employment rates but tend to be segregated in low-quality jobs. However, as these jobs are also unstable, so is the equilibrium: during periods of recession, immigrants may face higher risks of labor-market exclusion. This paper investigates immigrant penalties in terms of employment probabilities, job loss, labor-market (re)entry, and job quality throughout the first year of COVID-19 crisis, by analyzing data from the 2019 and 2020 ISTAT Labor Force Survey. We find that the pandemic crisis accelerated an already ongoing erosion of immigrants' relative employment advantage, while at the same time increasing their segregation in low-quality jobs. The deterioration of immigrants' employment chances is chiefly driven by increased barriers in (re)entering the labor market which, especially for women, might be due to self-selection into inactivity. These findings suggest that the structural factors that have historically facilitated the activation of immigrant workers might have become factors of instability.

Masculinity, Citizenship, and Demography: the Rise of Populism

The article examines the rise of contemporary populist movements in Europe and North America. These movements are driven primarily by working-class men who feel marginalized by developments in employment, work conditions, family life, and, in particular, by gender politics and the modern status of women. The growth of the service sector has created new opportunities for women. Demography, especially the decline in the fertility rate, has been neglected in sociological theories of the modern development of radical populism. With a declining and ageing population, the labor market depends increasingly on immigrant workers. These circumstances—feminism and migration—fuel the frustration of marginalized men who form the basis of radical populism.

Immigrant Workers’ Language Proficiency and Cultural Identity Congruence and Work–Family Conflict: The Mediating Role of Interpersonal Conflict at Work

To facilitate a much greater understanding of work–family conflict (WFC) in the cross-cultural context, work–family research begins to investigate the critical role of acculturation in WFC. The purpose of this study is to expand understanding of the role of acculturation in a more nuanced way by investigating how two important facets of acculturation (i.e., language proficiency and cultural identity), jointly influence WFC among immigrant workers. We conducted a polynomial regression with response surface analysis using two-wave longitudinal data from Chinese immigrants in New Zealand ( N = 264). The results showed that the congruence of language proficiency and cultural identity led to lower levels of interpersonal conflict at work (ICW). However, the congruence between them at high levels did not lead to lower levels of ICW compared to congruence at low levels. In addition, ICW fully mediated the combined effects of immigrant workers’ language proficiency and cultural identity on their WFC. Our results suggest that benefits are associated with language proficiency and cultural identity congruence and the findings provide insight into the role of acculturation in WFC.

Immigration, Colonizationand Agricultural Development in the Campos Gerais Region of the Paraná State, Brazil

This article approaches narratives within the report entitled Campos Gerais: Estudo da colonização, that was composed in the early seventies by Albert Elfes, a German agricultural engineer, and published in 1973 by the national institute of colonization and agrarian reform (INCRA), Paraná regional superintendency, south of Brazil. Elfes analyzed the settling of European and Asian immigrants in the Campos Gerais do Paraná region in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Furthermore, through interpretations related to the past and present (1970) of such region, the agronomist constitutes this geographic and human space as proper for the increase of agricultural production, which would originate from the work of immigrants and their descendants, in individual properties, with business characteristics that function as cooperatives. In our analysis, we don't deal with Elfes narratives just as descriptions of some specific realities, but as interpretations about the past, the present and expectations of the future that involve the ideas of progress, the passing of time and that classify and hierarchize the ways of living of the caboclos, Brazilian farmers and immigrants in Campos Gerais do Paraná.

Dorongan Masyarakat Jawa Timur Menjadi Pekerja Migran Indonesia

Background - The unemployment rate in East Java province is below the national average and the poverty rate in East Java province has decreased from the previous year. However, the number of Indonesian migrant workers originating from East Java ranks first nationally.
 Objectives - The aim of this research is to prove that there is a drive from within the community to become migrant workers. Researchers also want to find out what things make the people of East Java to become migrant workers.
 Design/ Methodology/ Approach - This study uses a Descriptive-Qualitative paradigm approach, with data collection techniques in the form of interviews with active and non-active Indonesian migrant workers (ex immigrants).
 Findings - Some of the elements that encourage people to become Indonesian immigrant workers are invitations from family, colleagues or friends, low income, economic improvement, living facilities and low education. Some of these elements are the encouragement or motivation of individuals to meet several needs in personal and social life and each individual wants to fulfill these needs in his life.
 Conclusion - This research produced several elements that encouraged the people of East Java, especially to become Indonesian immigrant workers, namely invitations from family, colleagues or friends, low income in Indonesia, economic improvement, living facilities and low education. Some of these elements are the encouragement or motivation of individuals to fulfill several needs in personal and social life.
 Research Implications - This research has important implications for the general public, Indonesian immigrant workers as well as for future research. The general public will know what things might happen when they become immigrant workers, and how the immigrants survive in other countries in order to improve their family's economic standard. Immigrant workers can meet their needs in life, while further researchers can dig deeper into other elements that encourage immigrant workers to work abroad.
 Research Limitations - This research was conducted only in certain areas. The northern region is represented by the northern coastal area of ​​Lamongan, the southern region is represented by Trenggalek Regency, the western region is represented by Ngawi Regency, and finally the eastern region is represented by Sumenep Regency and prioritizes the small island in Sumenep, namely Sapudi Island.