Labour Market Integration Research Articles

"I represent the police I represent the state" - Justification work following ethno-national boundaries crossing among Arab female police officers in Israel.

In recent decades, Israel's public sector diversity policy has led to the recruitment of many Arab female police officers (FAPO). For Arab women, joining the police force is seen as boundary-crossing, highlighting the tension between their professional, civilian, and ethno-national identities. While they are Israeli citizens, Arabs are often perceived as an unassimilated minority due to nationality, religion and culture. Arab women face numerous obstacles in integrating into the broader labor market, both from the state and their own society. Therefore, entry into the public sector, like the police force, is of great significance. However, some may view joining the Israeli police as cooperating with the majority-hegemonic group or even as betrayal. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 FAPO employed by the Israel Police asking how they articulate the ethno-national identity complexity in their pursuit of quality jobs in the Israeli police force, and how they justify dealing with the challenges this presents. The analysis sheds light on the interviewees' subjective perspective of their recruitment to the police force, i.e., the ways they experience their crossing of ethno-national boundaries and the conflictual identity experience inherent in the process. These insights offer a better understanding of the FAPO's experiences regarding their justification work while facing criticism and value conflicts. The contributions of this study are threefold: 1. It advances the literature on the labor market integration of Arab women from the theoretical perspective of boundary-crossing. 2. It adds to the theory of boundary-crossing in the labor market for minority women in distinct locations. 3. It provides insights into the subjective perspectives and experiences of FAPO, contributing to organizational knowledge about minority policing in a deeply divided society characterized by tense relations between the minority and the police.

Labor market integration of refugees: RCT evidence from an early intervention program in Sweden

This study uses a randomized controlled trial to evaluate a new program for increased labor market integration of refugees. The new program starts shortly after the residence permit is granted and uses three main components: early and intensive language training, work practice with supervisors, and job search assistance performed by professional caseworkers. The immediate and intensive assistance contrasts previous integration policies which typically constitute low-intensive help over long periods of time. We find large positive effects on employment of the program, with magnitudes corresponding to around 15 percentage points. A mediation analysis shows that 7–8 percent of the impact of the program seems to be explained by increases in documented language skills. Cost estimates suggest that the new policy is less expensive than earlier labor market programs.

The influence of the labour market and COVID-19 on human resource practices in SMEs in China: a longitudinal study

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the evolving perceptions and human resource (HR) responses of owners and HR managers of Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) towards local labour markets in the context of the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a two-stage longitudinal qualitative approach involving 52 interviews with owners and HR managers of Chinese SMEs in the pre- and post-pandemic time periods.FindingsThe findings reveal a shift from the perceptions of a general labour shortage to perceptions of specialised talent shortages and increasing geographical disparities in local labour markets. They further reveal that SMEs are increasingly likely to adopt efficiency-oriented, flexibility-enhancing HR practices in the face of high uncertainty.Practical implicationsThe findings provide insights into the nature of the constraints of SMEs' sustainable development that need to be addressed by policymakers, SME owners and HR managers when they devise and implement policies relating to structure optimisation, labour market integration and mobility enhancement.Originality/valueIn contrast to extant literature that has examined the labour market at the national level, this study explores the views of SMEs (the demand side) by taking a localised perspective on how SMEs have responded to change through their HR practices.

Parental leave use among newly arrived immigrant mothers in Sweden: Causes and consequences

Immigration to Sweden is dominated by women and men of childbearing age, and many arrive with children. The labour-market integration of newly arrived mothers is of concern, and well directed social policy is crucial. Parental leave is based on residence, and until recently it was granted to all parents of foreign-born children of preschool age. This study uses population and social insurance registers to investigate whether newly arrived immigrant mothers use parental leave upon arrival, and whether use is an obstacle to future labour-market activity. Our results indicate that the majority of the newly arrived mothers do not take any parental leave, but also that there are great differences in uptake in relation to country of birth and reason for residence permit. However, there seem to be only marginal associations between parental leave use and subsequent labour-market attachment. Nevertheless, moderate use is associated with labour-market activity rather than being an obstacle to it. Our results contribute to the debate on the unintended effects of social policy on the integration of immigrants.

Starting flexible, always flexible? The relation of early temporary employment and young workers employment trajectories in the Netherlands

Using register data from Statistics Netherlands (2009–2019), this paper examines whether the first employment contract is related to early career outcomes for a cohort of young workers who entered the Dutch labour market in the period from late 2009–2013. Instead of looking at the timing of isolated transitions between employment states, 6-year-long trajectories are considered to identify differences in early career paths. Applying a Mixture Hidden Markov Model, eight distinct states of employment quality characterized by different contract types and incomes are identified. Transitions between these employment states reveal four early career patterns that differ according to their upward and downward mobility. Our results show that entering the labour market with a permanent contract does not necessarily lead to immediate wage growth, but provides a safeguard against volatile careers with frequent transitions in and out of employment. While entering the labour market with a fixed-term contract facilitates upward mobility, on-call and temporary agency work early in the career may negatively affect long-term labour market integration.

Reciprocity in migration policy and labor market integration: A lab experiment

We experimentally study policy variations to examine economic migrants’ willingness to relocate to, and take up work in, a destination country, and, in turn, destination country citizens’ willingness to allow economic migrants to relocate to and pursue formal work in their country. We focus on economic migrants coming from less developed countries and citizens of more developed destination countries and find clear evidence for a reciprocal relationship between the individuals in these roles. The labor market participation of economic migrants co-moves with destination countries’ openness to welcoming them. However, open migration policy without the threat of restrictions leads to lower migrant labor market participation than when the threat of restrictive policies looms. Yet, while the existence of such a threat encourages migrants to work, the actual implementation of restrictive policies reduces migrants’ willingness to work. We conclude that thoughtful and balanced migration policies that consider the reciprocal relationship between migrants and citizens are crucial to support mutually beneficial co-existence in society.

Scorched Earth: Employers’ Breached Trust in Refugees’ Labor Market Integration

Employment is critical for refugees’ positive integration into a receiving country. Enabling employment requires cross-sector collaborations, that is, employers collaborating with different stakeholders such as refugees, local employees, other employers, unofficial/official supporters, and authorities. A vital element of cross-sector collaborations is trust, yet the complexity of cross-sector collaborations may challenge the formation and maintenance of trust. Following a theory elaboration approach, this qualitative study with 37 employers and 27 support workers in Germany explores how employers’ experiences in cross-sector collaborations on refugees’ labor market integration affect their trust in other stakeholders in this cross-sector space. Specifically, we explored employers’ perceptions of trust breaches, and how these perceptions affect their further engagement in cross-sector collaborations on refugee integration. Based on our findings, we propose a process model that describes how unmet collaboration expectations and negative assessments of collaborators’ attitudes and behaviors lead to perceived trust breaches which, in turn, lead to employers’ hesitancy to hire refugees and/or to engage in cross-sector collaborations. In doing so, we extend existing theory on trust within organizations to the cross-sector context of refugee integration, uncovering context-specific meanings to trustworthiness dimensions and illustrating how breaches of different trustworthiness dimensions can interact. Moreover, we show how social policies, resources, and trustors’ perceived vulnerability in collaborations shape their risk perceptions. This study highlights the central role of trust for refugee integration and illustrates how missing goals and process clarity endanger sustainable collaborations.

Action Research: A Participatory Approach to Improve Measures of Labour Market Integration of Refugees

This paper illustrates the benefits action research adds to successfully co-creating measures for the labour market integration of refugees. Germany has become one of the most popular immigration countries in the world. In addition to current refugee flows from Ukraine, migration from third countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey again increased in 2022. Compared to Ukrainians, who are subject to a special measure granting immediate and temporary protection in the event of a mass influx and direct access to the labour market, third-country representatives still have a limited path to the world of work. Following these events, this paper is motivated by the early research on developing measures for the labour market integration of refugees in Germany. It was conducted shortly after the so-called European “refugee crises” during 2015–2017. Due to increasing refugee movements, the findings are highly topical and thus make a renewed contribution to integration policies and action research as a participatory approach.

난민 위기 이후 독일의 난민과 망명 신청자의 노동시장 통합정책에 대한 고찰

난민 위기 이후 독일의 난민과 망명 신청자의 노동시장 통합정책에 대한 고찰

On the effects of active labour market policies among individuals reporting to have severe mental health problems

AbstractOn the one hand, unemployment is known to have detrimental effects on individuals' mental health. On the other hand, poor mental health reduces re‐employment chances quite drastically, creating a vicious cycle. Active labour market policies (ALMPs) such as training programs or wage subsidies have been shown to ameliorate negative effects on mental health and improve labour market integration on average for the general unemployed population. In the context of individuals with severe mental health issues, however, it is unclear whether these interventions can be expected to deliver similar positive effects. In fact, one may argue that they have the potential to worsen employment prospects of individuals by adding additional stress to their pre‐existing mental health problems. Hence, this paper estimates the long‐term causal effects of ALMPs on the labour market integration of individuals with self‐reported severe mental health issues and compares estimates to individuals without such issues using unique combined survey and administrative data. Effects are estimated using the innovative double machine learning method and show that ALMPs do not only improve labour market integration of unemployed individuals with severe mental health issues, but they do so more effectively than for other unemployed individuals.

Russia and China: Prospects for the Development of Urban Agglomerations

This research is aimed at studying the development of cities and agglomerations, which is an urgent problem equally for the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation. The level of urbanization increases with the development of territories, which makes it necessary to comprehend the processes taking place in urbanized regions and make management decisions to improve the quality of life and equalize it throughout the territory. Within the framework of these processes, the role of core cities remains, which are the centres of preferential development for the entire urban system as a whole.Aim. Comparative analysis of development trends in urbanized regions of China and Russia.Tasks. To analyse the main parameters of the quality of life in large cities of Russia and China. To consider the main trends in the development of urban agglomerations in the direction of its alignment. To determine the development and possibilities of mutual use of the experience of both countries in this process.Methods. The study uses a systematic approach with elements of a structural and functional approach and a comparative research method.Results and conclusion. As the main trends in the development of urbanized regions of Russia and China, the following are highlighted: the growth of the scale of territories and the concentration of a significant population on them, the associated aggravation of a number of problems, such as increasing competition in the integrated labour market, standardization and unification of the p rovision of basic services, increasing burden on local budgets and often limiting the autonomy of municipalities, the need to improve transport systems to increase the mobility of the population throughout the territory of the agglomeration.

Den vetenskapande socialtjänsten

The scientific social service – how a social media platform can turn the everyday work into science. Here the aim is to describe and reflect on how the value-creating science method and its digital tool Loop Me (social media platform) have been implemented in a research project. The research project aimed to explore collaboration processes and working methods that social services designed for internal and external collaboration in relation to labour market integration and reduced income support. A further aim within the research project was to understand how collegial learning unfolded. Common to both researchers and practitioners was a desire to try an interactive research method that gave the opportunity to understand how the collaboration- and development process developed over time through employee reflection in relation to given assignments/situations. The article thus does not focus on the research questions in the project, but on the usability of the method and the type of data that was the basis for various qualitative analyses within an organisational working life context. The researchers and practitioners have chosen to adapt the method somewhat to work for the specific context in which the research study was carried out. We reflect on what we adapted, why and how, and conclude that the method leaves room for context-specific adaptations, which previous studies on interactive research methods have shown to be significant for implementation.

Labor-Market Integration Projects Targeting Refugee Women in Germany: How Organizations With Different Inequality Regimes Negotiate Economic Integration

In recent years, several European reception countries have made rapid labor-market integration a key part of refugee policy. Little is known about how such services work, how involved actors address their clients, and what effects this entails. This article examines labor-market integration projects targeting refugee women in post-2015 Germany. Comparing six projects of various organizational backgrounds, I identify two contradictory approaches: a femonationalist logic that addresses refugee women as barely employable caring mothers and spouses; and an intersectional feminist logic that perceives them as equally economically-active subjects. I argue that organizational rationales contribute to the limitations of gender-specific reception politics.

Results from a Nationwide Evaluation Study of Labor Market-Integrative Health Promotion for the Unemployed: Impact of the JOBS Program Germany.

Compared to the employed, the unemployed suffer from poorer health, especially in terms of mental health. At the same time, health promotion rarely reaches unemployed people. The "JOBS Program" is an intervention to promote health and labor market integration and has shown positive effects in the USA and Finland. In this confirmatory study, we investigated whether the JOBS Program achieves similar effects in Germany. We applied a randomized controlled trial to compare an intervention group (IVG) with a waiting control group (WCG) before (T0; N = 94) and shortly after (T1; n = 65) the intervention. Concerning our primary outcomes, the JOBS Program Germany was beneficial: Compared to the WCG, the regression estimated that the IVG had (1) a 2.736 scale point higher level of life satisfaction (p = 0.049), (2) a 0.337 scale point higher level of general health (p = 0.025), and (3) a 14.524 scale point higher level of mental well-being (p = 0.004). Although not statistically significant, job search-specific self-efficacy also appeared to be positively associated with the intervention. This study provides evidence of the effectiveness of JOBS Program on the abovementioned outcomes, including for older and long-term unemployed people, supporting the benefits of regular implementation of this program for a wide range of unemployed people in Germany.

The contribution of informal learning in the integration process of immigrants into the labour market: Individual and organisational perspectives in selected sectors

AbstractIn Germany and Canada, the integration of immigrants into the labour market is closely related to the various approaches towards the recognition and validation of informal learning. This paper aims to analyse the informal learning measures undertaken by immigrants as well as those offered by employers in the health and information and communication technology sectors during the labour market integration process. The study focused on nurses as well as IT project managers and programmers. The comparison focuses on the occurrence and quality of the four dimensions of the dynamic model of informal learning from an individual and an organisation perspective. The results show similarities between these two perspectives regarding the relevance of the four dimensions in the integration of immigrants into the labour market. In addition, clear differences between the two investigated sectors as well as country‐specific differences appear.

Do Work Permits Work? The Impacts of Formal Labor Market Integration of Syrian Refugees in Jordan

Abstract The integration of refugees into host countries’ formal labor markets is increasingly recommended as a durable solution to forced migration. Yet, this policy response is a contentious political topic with little empirical evidence, especially in low- and middle-income host countries available to support policy. This article examines the impacts of integrating Syrian refugees into Jordan’s formal labor market. We use robust greedy one-to-one propensity score matching on comprehensive high-quality data from almost 75,000 Syrian refugee households collected between 2017 and 2019 to generate novel evidence on the socio-economic benefits of refugee labor market integration. Our findings show that the ability to access formal jobs, reflected by holding a work permit, is significantly associated with increased refugee income, strengthens food security, and reduces protection needs and child labor. These findings contribute to a better and knowledge-based understanding of a prominent policy response for forced migrants.

Managing mentoring for the labor market integration of humanitarian migrants

This paper examines the design and operational challenges of managing a mentoring program supporting the labor market integration of humanitarian migrants. Data were collected using extended participant observation of organizational activities and processes, analysis of internal and external-oriented documents and communications, and interviews with a range of program stakeholders in a French organization working with recently arrived humanitarian migrants. Utilizing theoretical insights from value creation approaches, the paper identifies how the organization attempted to construct value propositions, including how these were embedded in the program's design and actors' engagement. Moreover, it examines critically how these were interpreted, enacted and occasionally subverted through the perceptions and actions of the various actors involved in the program delivery. In doing so, the study evaluates how the scope, goals and impacts envisioned by the organization translated into participants' experiences, which potentially shaped program outcomes. The findings stress the implications of program specialization and distributed governance on the effective management of mentoring schemes aimed at facilitating migrants' transition into work.

Gender employment gap at arrival and its dynamics: The case of refugees in Germany

In recent years, refugee women’s experiences have received considerable attention in the academic discourse on immigrant labor market integration. Taking a dynamic perspective, we investigate gender differences in the labor market integration of refugees who arrived in Germany between 2013 and 2019. We examine refugees' trajectories in the early post-arrival period and explore a number of conditions that have been proposed to influence gendered labor market outcomes. Using panel data from the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Refugee Sample, we find initially narrow gender differences among refugees that gradually widen over time. While initial differences in human capital and care responsibilities contribute significantly to the gender gap in employment in the first year after arrival, our study shows that the gap widens primarily due to refugee women experiencing lower returns to their human and social capital and health, as well as bearing a heavier burden of childcare responsibilities. These findings highlight the compounded disadvantages that refugee women face in the host country due to their limited ability to fully utilize their labor market resources, coupled with their primary responsibility for childcare. Moreover, our findings suggest that existing theoretical explanations in the literature are insufficient to fully explain the barriers refugee women face when entering the labor market.

Employment, income, and skill alignment of humanitarian migrants in the Australian labour market: Metropolitan and regional contexts, 2000–2016

AbstractHumanitarian migration to Australia has reached new levels, accompanied by unprecedented complexity and diversity. Little is known about labour market integration for these newcomers, nor about how well their skills match those required for or relevant to their employment. Here we analyse how labour force engagement and skill alignment are influenced by migration status, including migration scheme, region of birthplace, applicant status, year of arrival, citizenship, and internal migration after settlement, and metropolitan versus regional geographic location of settlement. In particular, we focus on employed humanitarian visa holders who arrived between 2000 and 2016. Using the 2016 Australian Census and Migrants Integrated Dataset (ACMID) for quantitative analysis, our modelling established that they were not as likely to be in the labour force as skilled visa holders. Similarly, humanitarian visa holders who were employed were less likely to be in jobs that matched their skills and more likely to have lower income levels. Moreover, there were significant differences in skill alignment between those settling in metropolitan and in regional areas. The relative probability of being over‐skilled was correlated with migration scheme, origin, duration since arrival, internal movement in the year preceding the census, proficiency in spoken English, family status, and gender. Labour market outcomes varied by visa subtype and by metropolitan versus regional settlement. We conclude that the design of migration policy requires further important consideration, both to improve the outlook for this vulnerable population and to address chronic skill shortages in Australia.

Study and career counselling in Swedish adult education

ABSTRACT This article presents and discusses findings from a qualitative study of Swedish adult education, with focus on meetings between counsellors and students and how counsellors translate and enact different expectations from policies and ethical guidelines, as well as from adult students. The results show that counsellors have an important role in the marketised and complex system of adult education in Sweden, both to guide people during the encounter with adult education and to guide and support them as students. A policy enactment emerges where counsellors are in conflict between different guidelines and are forced to compromise between the ethical ideal that they, as counsellors should always start from individual needs, and policy requirements concerning e.g. skills supply and labour-market integration.