Integration Of New Immigrants Research Articles

Migration, language, and variation: the challenge of foreign speakers to detect Italian linguistic varieties

In the last decades, Italy has been affected by new migratory waves which enriched its varied sociolinguistic landscape. If on one hand Italy has been dealing with the integration of new immigrants in the society, on the other foreign immigrants need to cope with the extreme sociolinguistic complexity which defines the Italian linguistic reality. The present study aims to examine how foreign speakers perceive regional linguistic variation of Italy. A perceptive experiment was conducted on 44 foreign respondents to test their linguistic perception of six regional Italian varieties. Results showed that Italian’s explicit learning helps linguistic comprehension, but it is not enough to grasp differences between regional varieties of Italian, and this could cause comprehension difficulties for the unrepresented varieties in Italian language programs. We suggest that the enhancement of Italian regional varieties’ representation could foster new immigrants’ integration in the welcome society.

Current Situation and Future Development of Education for Children in Ecological Migrant Areas in Ningxia

The issue of ecological migration has been concerned for a long time. As one of the first regions to implement ecological migration projects, Ningxia has a special multi-ethnic population, and its education problems cannot be ignored. From the perspective of schools, this paper analyses the current situation of exclusion and isolation of new immigrant children in schools and the lack of holistic education for children. From the perspective of families, it analyses the situation of parents of new immigrants having low expectations for their childrens education and the situation of educational differences due to different ethnic beliefs. The paper positively puts forward the ideas that teachers are expected to teach their students according to their abilities; school is ought to strengthen its infrastructure, obey the rules and regulations in the society and provide extensive training for teachers. Moreover, it is necessary to quicken the social integration of new immigrants and residents. It is hoped that with the implementation of these measures can accelerate the progress of friendly relations between indigenous people and new migrants and provide a good educational environment for children.

Getting the first job: Size and quality of ethnic enclaves and refugee labor market entry

AbstractWe analyze the relationship between residence in an ethnic enclave and immigrants' labor market integration with respect to finding a first job in the receiving country. The analysis distinguishes between the size and the quality of the ethnic enclaves, where quality is measured in terms of employment rate among ethnic peers in the same neighborhood. We use longitudinal geo‐coded registry data for two distinct groups of immigrants arriving in the Stockholm metropolitan area to investigate their initial labor market contact. The first group of immigrants moved from the Balkans in the early 1990s following the Yugoslavian war, and the second group arrived from the Middle East following the second Iraq War in 2006. We estimate the probability of finding a first job using probit regressions and complement the analysis with additional duration models. To draw causal inference, we use instrumentation that combines initial neighborhood variables with citywide variation over time. We provide empirical evidence that the employment rate of the respective immigrant group in the vicinity facilitates labor market integration of new immigrants. The influences of the overall employment rate and the share of conationals in the neighborhood tend to be positive, but less robustly so. Our results are consistent with the notion that the qualitative nature of an enclave is at least as important as the sheer number of ethnic peers in helping new immigrants find jobs.

Programming for Immigrant Women in Canada: Is Entrepreneurship Neglected?

AbstractThis study examines the demand and supply dynamics of entrepreneurship support services for new immigrant women in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), Ontario, Canada. Empirical evidence presented in this study reveals significant unmet needs for entrepreneurship support services. Major reasons for the inability of settlement agencies to meet the entrepreneurship needs of new immigrants include prioritization of other support services and lack of funding. The study identifies unfamiliarity with the Canadian environment, discrimination, business regulations that are difficult to satisfy, and unlikely tendencies of the immigrants to ask for support as some of the key challenges to entrepreneurship among immigrant women. However, these challenges may be ameliorated with enhanced entrepreneurship and language training, information awareness campaigns and more funding, among other factors. The findings have practical implications for accountable governments and non‐governmental organizations as they design and/or redesign immigration and settlement policies to facilitate integration of new immigrants.

The Earnings of Immigrant and Native-Born Men in Canada: The Role of Social Networks and Social Capital

ABSTRACTUsing data from the Canadian General Social Survey (2008), this study considers the role of social networks in immigrants’ earnings. Despite higher levels of education, immigrants continue to earn less than native-born Canadians. This paper shows that social network characteristics are associated with earnings net of the effects of human capital and visible minority status. Social networks are important for understanding immigrants’ earnings both as a direct cause of employment disadvantages and as a force that exacerbates the disadvantages that immigrants face due to racial discrimination, a lack of proficiency in Canada’s official languages, and/or discrepancies over foreign credentials. While most current data on immigrant networks is limited to specific ethnic groups, cities, and/or occupations, the present study contributes to scholarship by generalizing data to all immigrants in Canada. This study also expands the temporal scope by comparing immigrants who arrived in the 2000s, 1990s, and earlier. Future research and public policy should put greater emphasis on the role of social networks in the economic integration of new immigrants.

Does Multiculturalism Work? Language, Friendship Homophily, and Well-Being of Immigrants in Canada

Multiculturalism is under attack in its birthplace, Canada. I revisit the connection between the two pillars of Canadian multiculturalism, namely acceptance of English and French as the official languages and respect and sharing among all cultural groups. A unique dataset, the 2002 Canadian Ethnic Diversity Survey, is used to analyze how learning more languages affects ethnic composition of people's social networks, which I propose as an indicator for social integration of new immigrants. I find that learning the official languages or learning more languages in general increases the ethnic diversity of a person's network. The economic and social well-being of immigrants are related to their language skills and ethnic composition of their social networks. The findings are generally in favor of advocates for multiculturalism.

Evaluating the Labour Market Integration of New Immigrants in the UK

This article analyses the labour market integration of newly arrived immigrants in the UK labour market, based on data from the UK Labour Force Survey. We focus on immigrants who arrived in the United Kingdom since 2000 and distinguish different cohorts based on the year of their arrival in the country. We examine the extent to which these new arrivals were able to enter work and move up into skilled jobs, and analyse the sectors of the economy that have proved most amenable to this progression. The analysis indicates that these new arrivals fared relatively well in the workforce. In part as a result of their relative youth and high education levels, many new arrivals (especially those from the European Union and in particular the EU10 countries) moved straight into work.

The integration of new immigrants in Brussels: an institutional and political puzzle

In Belgium, the Brussels-Capital Region constitutes the main gateway for international migration. Like everywhere in Europe, the challenge of immigration and in particular what happens afterwards, namely the integration of new immigrants in the host society, is particularly palpable in Brussels. Within the Belgian federal state, the federated entities have implemented different integration policies. Recently, these policies have experienced major upheavals, especially in Brussels where the result raises questions. Different (and possibly competing) institutions are competent, and today there are two civic integration programmes in the same territory: one from the Dutch-speaking community and the other from the French-speaking community. The aim of this article is to examine these policies by placing them in the particularly complex institutional context of Brussels. This involves studying and understanding the institutional labyrinth in which these policies exist, as well as describing them in order to compare them. This institutional puzzle has consequences for the stakeholders, i.e. the authorities and the migrants themselves.

Labor market integration of new immigrants in Spain

Abstract Immigrants’ employment status has worsened during the Great Recession in Spain. How much of this worsening is due to the recession, and how much to a composition effect? Using Spanish Labor Force Survey data from 2000 through 2011, we compare the employment trajectories of different cohorts of immigrants and natives and find that those who arrived before the 2008 recession had little trouble finding work immediately. In contrast, those who arrived after 2008 struggled to find work as Spanish unemployment rates skyrocketed. In addition, although many immigrants who arrived in Spain between 2000 and 2007 were able to find work and eventually move out of the low-skilled positions, the nature of their jobs did not shield them from the recession. Hence, many became unemployed as the economy shed low- and middle-skilled jobs in sectors dominated by immigrants. Immigrants’ individual characteristics, such as gender, country of origin, or educational level, had a limited effect on their employment trajectories. These findings suggest that for many workers, finding middle-skilled work alone isn’t enough. Hence, integration policies could aim to help workers transition from the secondary to the primary labor market in order to find their way into more stable employment. JEL codes: J15, J24, J61, J62

The Politics of Language Roadmaps in Canada: Understanding the Conservative Government's Approach to Official Languages

AbstractThis article critically examines the Conservative government's approach to official languages, through a policy instrument framework. Special attention is paid to the third federal roadmap for official languages—the first having been unveiled by the Liberal government in 2003 and the second by the Conservative minority government in 2008—and how this roadmap conveys a new representation of official languages in relation to Canadian identity and citizenship. The focus on the linguistic integration of new immigrants in the 2013 language roadmap generates interest. The policy instrument framework also shows how language roadmaps represent the fourth generation of official language policies in Canada; the first three generations found their respective bases in the 1969Official Languages Act, theCharter of Rights and Freedomsand the 1988Official Languages Act. The article concludes that an analysis of language roadmaps elucidates transformations initiated by the Conservative governments in the area of official languages in Canada. It also promotes further exploration and analysis of language policies through the policy instrument framework.

Education and employment training supports for newcomers to Canada’s middle-sized urban/rural regions: Implications for social work practice

The last decade has witnessed the movement of immigrants from Canada’s largest urban centers—Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal—to smaller urban-rural communities. Nevertheless, very little scholarship exists on newcomer integration in these communities. Furthermore, social work literature examining the perspective of service providers who work with newcomers is lacking. Grand Erie is a middle-sized urban/rural region in Ontario, Canada that is experiencing increased migration of newcomers. This paper focuses on a part of a larger Community-based participatory research on ‘Newcomer Settlement and Integration in Education, Training, Employment, Health and Social Support’ in Grand Erie and discusses the findings in the education and training domain. Data were gathered from 212 newcomers (men and women) and 237 service providers using survey questionnaires. Findings Most of the newcomers in this study had not taken any education or employment courses post-migration. The qualitative and quantitative responses from participants (newcomers and service providers) highlight a lack of affordable child care and poor transportation infrastructure in this region as significant barriers to newcomers’ ability to take education or employment courses especially in case of visible minority women. Applications The results of the study suggest that there is an opportunity for social workers to build partnerships with community agencies as well as with policy-makers at regional and provincial levels to foster the social, economic, and political integration of new immigrants in the host society.

An interdiscursive analysis of language and immigrant integration policy discourse in Canada

This paper presents a critical discourse analysis of the Canadian policy discourse surrounding language and immigrant integration, focusing on the interdiscursive processes through which it recontextualizes discourse elements from a neo-liberal skills discourse, an academic discourse of language as communicative competency, and a research discourse of language as a factor in immigrant incorporation. This dominant discourse on language and integration is based on standard language ideology regarding the functional importance of language skills for economic integration of new immigrants and legitimizes the increased salience of language within the Canadian immigration regime. It also plays a mediating role in changes in discourse practices surrounding language and integration policy associated with a neo-liberal transformation of the Canadian immigration regime.

Social Capital, Employment and Occupational Status of the New Immigrants in Canada

Using the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants in Canada (LSIC), this study examines the role of social capital in the labour market integration of new immigrants in Canada, utilizing various measures of social capital and treating employment and occupational Socio-Economic Scale (SES) as the indicators of labour market integration. The findings show that visible minority immigrants have significantly lower levels of employment and SES compared to white immigrants. Furthermore, social capital contributes significantly to an increased likelihood of employment and also to higher SES positions. However, the effect of social capital varies by the types of social capital, ethno-racial origins, as well as forms of economic integration.

Language Acquisition Among Adult Immigrants in Canada

Gaining proficiency in the host country language is a key element to successful integration of new immigrants. In this article, the author adopts Bourdieu’s perspective that accumulation and conversion of forms of capital is only possible through practice in a social field; therefore, the author puts forward the idea that language capital acquisition occurs through active participation in the host society. By employing data from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada, this article demonstrates the variability in premigration language capital among recent adult immigrants to Canada and the effect of premigration language capital and individual factors on language proficiency gains over 4 years of arrival. The study examines opportunities for language acquisition through formal and informal learning and demonstrates that vulnerable groups, such as women, older immigrants, and less educated immigrants who have less language capital at arrival, report also limited access to learning opportunities.

The roles of human capital and social capital in the economic integration of new arrivals from Mainland China to Hong Kong

Although it has been hypothesized in the literature that both human capital and social capital are important for the economic performance of new immigrants, few studies have examined these relationships empirically, especially in understudied populations such as Chinese populations. This study simultaneously examines the roles of human capital and social capital in the economic integration of new arrivals from Mainland China to Hong Kong, using a random sample of immigrants. In the early stage of immigration (less than 6 months after arrival), we find little support for the presumed positive effects of both human capital and social capital on employment status among new arrivals in Hong Kong. Follow-up studies are underway to investigate the dynamic relationship between social capital and economic integration in this group of new arrivals, and whether social capital, especially friendship networks, plays a more important role in the economic integration of new immigrants 1 or 2 years after arrival.

Immigrant Economic Integration: A Prospective Analysis over Ten Years of Settlement

ABSTRACTThe growing diaspora in migration has prompted Western countries in recent years to examine the factors contributing to the economic integration of newcomers. If their integration is unsuccessful, it could create economic inequalities and be burdensome to the host society. The inequalities experienced by working immigrants have often been examined through cross‐sectional data describing the situation at a specific moment in time, with limited consideration of the complexity of the immigrant's settlement experience. This paper examines the economic integration of new immigrants through prospective analysis and considers multiple factors concurrently in an effort to address some of this complexity. The current study focuses on employment disparities across source regions. The analyses are taken from a ten‐year longitudinal survey describing the socio‐economic experience of 429 new immigrants settled in the Montreal metropolitan area. Over time, wage and occupational mobility increase, although it appears stagnant for different groups of respondents from specific regions such as East Asia, North Africa and the Middle East. Also, like respondents from sub‐Saharan Africa, these respondents face difficulties sustaining a position in the labour market.

Mediating Between Citizens and a New State: The History ofShurat ha-mitnadvim

Shurat ha-Mitnadvim was founded in the winter of 1951–1952 by students from the Hebrew University as a volunteer organization promoting norms of good citizenship by furthering the social integration of new immigrants and exposing prodigality and corrupt practices in the public sector. Shurat ha-Mitnadvim offered a structural and ideological alternative to the dominant model of civil organizing that persisted from the Yishuv (pre-statehood) to the early statehood period, which was accepted with relative tolerance during most of Shurat ha-Mitnadvim’s years of activity. At a certain stage, however, it found itself in a head-on confrontation with the state authorities that it criticized and with political parties and other national-level suborganizations (the Jewish Agency and the Federation of Labor in Israel). These institutions regarded themselves as the main mediators between the citizen and the governing authorities and therefore as more “legitimate” than Shurat ha-Mitnadvim. The whole affair and its main characteristic, the novelty of the challenge that it expressed, and the reverberations that the activity of a civil-society organization sent through the reality of a young, self-defensive democracy, are the focal points of this article.

Economic Integration of New Immigrants in the Montreal Labor Market: A Longitudinal Approach

Economic Integration of New Immigrants in the Montreal Labor Market: A Longitudinal Approach

Economic Integration of New Immigrants in the Montreal Labor Market: A Longitudinal Approach

The economic integration of immigrants is most frequently studied with cross-sectional data (censuses and surveys). Here we analyse the process of integration of immigrants into the labour market, using a longitudinal survey carried out in Montreal with a cohort of immigrants who arrived in Quebec in 1989. The central hypothesis of our research is that the national origin plays an important role in the immigrant’s economic integration, defined here by access to a first job and the capacity to remain employed in the labour market (i.e., number of weeks worked) during the first 18 months after arrival. The results indicate that once socio-demographic and human capital variables are taken into account, immigrants from developing countries and from Eastern Europe have greater difficulties than those from the United States, France and the rest of Europe in becoming integrated into the labour market.

De Fedj à assistant social : la métamorphose d'une fonction traditionnelle parmi les immigrants éthiopiens en Israël

From Fedj to Social Worker : the Metamorphosis of a traditional Role among Ethiopian immigrants in Israel Haïm ROSEN This paper looks at the current efforts of key individuals within the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel to assist in the adjustment and integration of new immigrants. The material that is presented comes from fieldwork carried out in the town of Ashdod. The findings are presented against the back-drop at the kinds of local level political activity that was taking place in Ethiopia, and was familiar to these immigrants prior to their arrival in Israel or Ashdod. A central finding of the research is that a transformation can be said to have taken place, whereby the kinds of expectations once held of a person who served in a traditional role known as fedj, representing people and handling their affairs for them, have been placed upon certain individuals who are working in the area of social services. A case study is made of the « metamorphosis » of one individual in particular who managed to go from acting in a fedj-like manner, as he performed his official functions, to becoming a certified social worker in charge of a large staff and organizer of a program to train a new generation of local people to serve their community like a good fedj.