On the Labour Market Progress of Polish Accession Workers in South‐East England

The enlargement of the European Union (EU) in May 2004 produced a very significant wave of immigration to the United Kingdom that is likely to continue to impact its labour market in forthcoming years. Polish migrants were by far the largest cohort of the new entrants. This paper complements previous work that has begun to establish the characteristics and labour market performance of migrants from the new member states who have entered the United Kingdom. This paper uses a unique micro‐level data base to investigate the labour market evolution of Polish migrants in the UK labour market. We find that in the first UK job returns to human capital were negligible. However, for the current job an extra year of education increases the weekly gross wage by 3.2 per cent. There is evidence of a gender differential in pay in both jobs and that older workers are paid more than their younger counterparts but this effect becomes insignificant in the current job. We find that hours worked is a significant factor in wage determination. However, the influence of hours worked on wages declined by approximately 38 per cent between the first and current job. Results from multinomial logit models suggest that over‐time there is some “match” between the occupational groupings that these workers were attached to in Poland and the United Kingdom. We also find evidence that the use of employment agencies by some of these workers increases the likelihood of employment in skilled manual and non‐manual occupations. Workers who have had supervisory responsibility in the United Kingdom are more likely to be in professional or intermediate occupations.     

“Integration Constellations” – The Interaction between Destination and Origin Countries and Civil Society Organizations in Migrant Integration

Mainstream migration research examines migrant integration mainly as a function of integration policies in the country of destination, paying relatively little attention to policy frameworks in the country of origin. In this article we introduce the concept of “integration constellations” in order to describe multiple actors and actions involved in migrant integration in Europe. The analysis of such constellations includes policies frameworks produced by countries of destination and by countries of origin along with activities by civil society organizations. Our study encompasses all these actors in examining three empirical cases: Chinese student migration to the UK, Iranian refugees in Sweden, and Ukrainian labour migrants in Poland. These examples illustrate how actions by the states of origin and of destination can either complement or oppose each other. Although we concentrate on just three dimensions of integration (education, labour market and political participation), we point out the multidimensional reality of migrant integration.     

Internally Displaced Persons in Pursuit for Access to Justice: Ukraine

The article focuses on Eastern European region and, specifically, access to justice for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine, who currently form ninth largest group of such forced migrants in the world. It explains the roots and causes of the Ukrainian internal displacement; institutional and legal framework, Ukrainian IDPs operate in; their internal structure, needs and vulnerabilities. Examining access to justice, its dimensions and key components in universal and regional context, it then applies this framework to Ukrainian IDPs’ situation. Facing challenges starting from legal recognition of their IDP status to discrimination in social‐economic sphere, having a limited right to vote and no legal responsibility for violation of their specific rights and freedoms, Ukrainian IDPs have no other recourse but to pursue justice in the national courts. However, justice as result is not often achievable due to a barrier, which arguably, as a matter of policy, has been overlooked.     

Economic Contribution of Migrant Workers to Thailand

In the past decade or two, an increasing number of migrants from countries neighbouring Thailand have moved to Thailand temporarily or permanently in search for jobs and life security, causing an increase in the labour supply in the Thai labour market. This paper attempts to find the economic contribution of these migrant workers to Thailand using various data sources and a collection of related findings. We find that capital gains from migrant workers show an increasing trend from around 0.03 per cent of the real national income (880 million baht) in 1995 to around 0.055 per cent of the real national income (2,039 million baht) in 2005. Using the adjusted labour share, the net contribution of migrant workers is on average 0.023 per cent of the real national income per year, or around 760 million baht per year.     

Qualifications Recognition Reform for Skilled Migrants in Australia: Applying Competency-based Assessment to Overseas-qualified Nurses

The past two decades have coincided with unprecedented Australian selection of skilled migrants, in particular professionals from non‐English speaking background (NESB) source countries. By 1991, the overseas‐born constituted 43 to 49 per cent of Australia's engineers, 43 per cent of computer professionals, 40 per cent of doctors, 26 per cent of nurses, and rising proportions in other key professions. Within one to five years of arrival, just 30 per cent of degree‐qualified migrants were employed. However, few diploma holders had found work in any profession, and select NESB groups were characterized by acute labour market disadvantage. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, barriers to credential recognition were identified as a major contributing factor to these inferior employment outcomes. This paper describes the evolution of Australia's qualifications recognition reform agenda for NESB migrants, including progressive growth in support of a shift from paper to competency‐based assessment (CBA). Within this context, the paper examines the degree to which improvements were achieved in the 1990s in the field of nursing — the first major Australian profession to embrace CBA, and one promoted by the National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition as an exemplar of the reform process. Assessment protocols and outcomes are analysed within two contrasting contexts: pre‐migration at Australian overseas posts, and within Australia following overseas‐qualified nurses' (OQNs) arrival. Based on empirical data from a wide range of sources, the paper identifies the development of a major paradox. Substantial improvements in qualifications recognition were indeed achieved for NESB nurses through CBA in Australia, in particular in the dominant immigrant‐receiving states of Victoria and New South Wales. At the same time, it is argued, a significant tightening of recognition procedures was occurring at Australian overseas posts where CBA was unavailable. The Immigration Department placed pre‐migration assessment more, rather than less, exclusively in the hands of the professional nursing bodies, in a period coinciding with their harsher, rather than more lenient, treatment of NESB migrants' qualifications. Minimal improvement in recognition of overseas qualifications was achieved in other professions.     

Slave Crucibles: Interstate Migrants and Social Assimilation in the Antebellum South

Between 1800 and 1860 almost a million American slaves were forcibly removed from the Upper South and sent to the Lower South. An outpouring of historical research has greatly contributed to our understanding of the political, economic, demographic and business aspects of interregional slave migration in the antebellum period. As yet, however, relatively few studies have examined the assimilation process of interstate slave migrants. Cast into new slave communities, newcomers were often treated – and felt – like outsiders by their fellow bondspeople, and were forced to utilise various strategies to effect their integration. How did migrants experience the transition to new slave communities? How did they forge new relationships, and what were the bases of these relationships? What institutions and strategies aided in their integration process? And to what extent do their experiences reveal a broad ‘slave identity’ in the antebellum period? This study explores these questions for interstate newcomers in the antebellum South.     

Occupation and housing adjustment of migrants to Surabaya,Indonesia: the case of a second city

The adjustment of migrants to Surabaya, Indonesia was examined with respect to occupation and housing characteristics. The data are based on information obtained in interviews from a multistage random sample of 600 residents of Surabaya between the ages of 20-44. Both females and males were interviewed and information on occupation was also collected for the spouses of respondents. In the analysis, 3 comparison groups were used: migrants to the city within the 5 years previous to the survey; migrants who moved in 1969 or before; and lifetime residents of Surabaya who were either born there or moved before the age of 15. The analysis used 2 methods to determine the extent and nature of adjustment. In the first, migrants of short and long durations of residence were compared to determine if change on the aggregate level has taken place and to indicate the direction of change. A control group of lifetime residents was used to determine whether the migrants are coming to resemble the characteristics of the native urban population. The 2nd, and equally serious problem, involves outmigration, in which migrants selective of certain characteristics leave the city either to return to the rural area or to move to another city. Initial comparisons between recent migrants, longterm migrants, and lifetime residents revealed no significant differences for either employment status or occupational skill. By occupational skill, approximately 35% had unskilled occupations, 27% semiskilled occupations, and 37% skilled occupations, with no significant difference by migrant status group. Overall, the distributions showed this sample to have significant concentrations in traditional, labor intensive employment, with a large percentage self employed. Controlling occupational skill for education showed somewhat different results. Those with primary school or less did not show a significant difference by migrant status, while among those with more education there was a significant difference. The longterm migrants wree overwhelmingly employed in skilled occupations. Initial analysis showed no significant difference in housing quality for each of the 3 migrant status groups. Recent migrants to the city were having no more difficulty in finding housing than changing migrants and lifetime natives. Housing conditions appeared to improve with duration of residence in the city, either through residential mobility or through improvements to the dwelling. That housing showed improvement with time, while occupation did not, may be because of the nature of each of the markets.     

Working for a Better Life: Longitudinal Evidence on the Predictors of Employment Among Recently Arrived Refugee Migrant Men Living in Australia

Although a number of studies have investigated the predictors of employment among refugee migrants, there is a dearth of evidence from longitudinal data. This study investigated the cross‐sectional and longitudinal predictors of employment among 233 adult refugee men living in South‐East Queensland, Australia. Participants were interviewed four times at six‐month intervals between 2008 and 2010. Using a conceptual model developed from the literature, Generalized Estimating Equations were used to model the predictors of employment. Over time, the employment rate increased from 44 per cent to 56 per cent. Region of birth, length of time in Australia, seeking employment through job service providers and informal networks, and owning a car were significant predictors of employment. Contrary to previous research, English language proficiency was not a significant predictor when other variables were controlled for. Recognition of overseas skills and qualifications decreased the chances of finding employment. The policy and programme implications are discussed.

Policy Implications

• Recognition of refugee migrants' overseas‐gained skills and qualifications does not guarantee them securing employment.
• Recognition of overseas skills and qualifications should be accompanied by educating employers, especially those outside the traditional migrant employment ‘niches’, about the resources and capabilities of refugee migrants, and the value of their qualifications.
• Fostering programmes that target the needs of job seekers from refugee backgrounds could enhance their employment outcomes.
• Supporting refugee migrants getting their drivers' licence and establishing favourable loan programmes that enable refugee migrants to buy a car can have a positive impact on their workforce participation.

     

Population Exchange and its Impact on Literacy,Occupation and Gender – Evidence from the Partition of India

How do large scale, involuntary migrations and population exchanges affect sending and receiving communities? We examine the case of the partition of India in which approximately 17 million people moved within four years, resulting in one of the largest and most rapid population exchanges in human history. We find large effects due to the migration on a district's educational, occupational, and gender composition. Due to higher education levels amongst migrants, districts with 10 per cent greater inflows saw their literacy rates increase by 3 percentage points, while a 10 per cent increase in outflows reduced literacy by 1.2 percentage points. Due to disparities in the amount of land vacated by migrants, Indian districts with 10 per cent greater inflows saw a decline of 11 per centin agricultural occupations. Districts that experienced high inflows and outflows also experienced changes in gender composition. While the partition, driven along religious lines, increased religious homogenization within communities, our results suggest that this was accompanied by increased educational and occupational differences within religious groups. We conclude that these compositional effects, in addition to an aggregate population impact, are probably features of involuntary migrations and population exchanges and, as in the case of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, can have important long‐term consequences.     

Employment Differentials of Second-Generation Muslim Immigrants: Assimilation and Discrimination Hypotheses

Focusing on the status of Muslim women, this paper examines the market employment of the second generation of migrants in multicultural Australia and highlights their differentials with non-Muslims. This group of Muslim women was born and educated in a country clearly characterised by a high level of women's employment. Accordingly, it is theorised that the employment level of second-generation Muslim migrants might also be high as a consequence of assimilation and a greater freedom from religiously ascribed gender roles. The possibility of disadvantage through discrimination is also considered in this analysis. Dealing with assimilation and discrimination hypotheses, the empirical findings of this analysis explain the employment differentials of the second generation of Muslim migrants with non-Muslims in this multicultural setting.     

The Dynamics of Self-employment and Ethnic Business Ownership among Taiwanese in Australia

Taiwan‐born business and skilled migrants who settle in Australia have high unemployment rates despite being well educated and fairly affluent. This phenomenon, commonly found in Australia among new Asian immigrants, has seldom been researched. Using qualitative methodologies, including ethnographic interviews and participant observation, this paper examines economic integration of recent Taiwanese business and skilled migrants in three Australian cities: Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne. The results indicate that Taiwanese immigrants find it difficult to secure employment, start profitable businesses, and adapt to the host society. The integration challenges include: lack of fluency in English, different social and cultural milieu, lack of familiarity with Australian business culture and labour relations, complex rules and regulations governing the establishment of business enterprises, small size of the market, high taxes, and lack of willingness to take up work not commensurate with their education and economic background. Policy recommendations to foster early integration of skilled migrants from Taiwan are included.     

Self‐Selection in Migration Between Developing Countries: The Role of Unobservable Skills of Gauteng's Migrant Population

The present study investigates the presence of self‐selection among internal and international migrants in Gauteng, South Africa and further disentangles the effects of observed and unobserved characteristics in the self‐selection of migrants by conducting Oaxaca‐Blinder decomposition on overall employment and self‐employment outcome variables. Our analysis, based on system‐GMM analysis of pseudo‐panel data, indicates that international migrants experienced markedly higher levels of employment than both locals and internal migrants driven by higher rates of informal and self‐employment. International migrants were also found to outperform their South African‐born counterparts on various variables indicative of well‐being like total household income, per capita household income, higher life satisfaction, and lower debt levels. Even though international migrants did not have higher levels of education, the Oaxaca‐Blinder decomposition provided evidence of the positive selection of international migrants to Gauteng, based on unobservable characteristics, to achieve higher levels of employment and self‐employment.     

Poles Apart? EU Enlargement and the Labour Market Outcomes of Immigrants in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom was one of only three countries to allow migrants from accession countries to enter their labour markets more or less without restriction following European Union enlargement in May 2004. Therefore, it is important to establish the characteristics and labour market performance of migrants from these countries who have subsequently entered the United Kingdom. We principally analyse Labour Force Survey data to compare the labour market outcomes of recent migrants from Poland and other accession countries to those of earlier migrant cohorts from these countries as well as to those of other recent migrants to the United Kingdom. We find that the majority of post‐enlargement migrants from the new member states have found employment in low paying jobs, despite some (especially Poles) possessing relatively high levels of education. It follows that recent Polish migrants typically have lower returns to their education than other recent arrivals. Migrants from the new member states who arrived immediately prior to enlargement have similar characteristics and labour market outcomes, apart from displaying a higher propensity to be self‐employed. These results are discussed in the context of policy changes, migration strategies, assimilation effects and possible impacts on the sending countries.     

Health Disorder of Climate Migrants in Khulna City: An Urban Slum Perspective

As the most vulnerable climatic region in the country, Khulna City is increasingly experiencing climate‐change‐induced urban problems. For instance, occupancy by climate migrants (delete the term “illegal migrant”), drainage congestion, water logging and reduced fresh water availability are all increasing problems. In the last decade, the population in the city increased by more than 20 per cent due to migration from nearby climate vulnerable districts. This study explores the health disorders of climate migrants occupying the urban slums and squats of the Khulna City area. This study found that these climate migrants settled in the urban slums and squats and, as such, they do not have access to urban amenities such as clean drinking water, hygiene services, and health facilities. This study noted that these displaced people are at increased risk of health issues from unhygienic and overcrowded living conditions and from water and sanitation problems. They often suffer from different waterborne diseases, under‐nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. This study suggests that there is a need for better planning, preparation and training in Bangladesh to which migrants move, including better training in health and related services on how to recognize and respond to health problems that may be slow to manifest. Education and training also need to be provided for the migrants themselves, to help them adapt culturally and to enhance their skills and potential for employment.     

Ill health and social conditions amongst migrants and refugees—the case of Sweden

The present article delineates the state of health and socioeconomic situation of migrants and refugees in Sweden. Special attention is given to refugees. Migrants appear to have more extensive health problems and a shorter longevity span than native Swedes. The refugees constitute an especially exposed group of migrants. Experiences in the home country that relate to organised violence is a specific problem for this group. It has been estimated that 20 to 25 per cent of all adult refugees who have arrived to Sweden during the recent years have experienced torture in their native countries. Swedish migrant and refugee policy operates according to a model of decentralisation, aiming to avoid ethnic segregation in the big city areas. However, the integration policy seems, in many instances, to have had a negative affect on the situation of the refugees. During the period of time, in which the refugees wait for a residence permit, they are not permitted to work. The long period of forced inactivity—in some instances up to a couple of years—seems frequently to have aggravated the health of the refugees. In addition it appears to contribute to the ever increasing animosity towards them.     

Revelation of the grassland: The Han sent-down youths in Inner Mongolia in China's Cultural Revolution

The Han Chinese migration into Inner Mongolia has been an ongoing process. There have been academic studies on such migration, and on Han Chinese peasant migrants and their interactions with the Mongols. This paper is a study of a particular group of Han migrants, known in English as the sent-down youths, sent by the government to Inner Mongolia, in the movement of ‘going up to the mountains and down to the villages’, or the rustication movement, which reached its height during the Cultural Revolution (1966 – 1976). Among the total of 17 million urban middle school graduates sent to various parts of China to become farmers, about 200,000 went to Inner Mongolia. By the mid-1980s the majority of these sent-down youths had returned to the cities and regained their urban household status. Based on works written by those who went to Inner Mongolia, and especially the interviews I conducted with some of them, this paper analyses their experiences, what it meant to them and the impact they had on the ecology and the political and ethnic integration of Inner Mongolia. I argue that the rustication movement as a Communist ‘civilizing’ project had negative effects on the ecology of Inner Mongolia. The sent-down youths functioned as instruments in the Han demographic and economic expansion and domination, but in the process, as individuals they underwent journeys of discovery of themselves and of the Mongols. To some, the experiences meant more awareness of ethnic diversity and more consciousness of ethnic rights as well as environmental issues. On the popular level, they played a role in enhancing ethnic integration.     

Migrant women: the path from Beijing

This article discusses the statement of the UN International Office of Migration (IOM) delivered at the Fourth World Congress on Women held in Beijing in 1995. The Beijing Platform of Action identified migrants as comprising an estimated 125 million people. Half of the international migrants live in developing countries, and at least 50 million are women. Another 500 million are internal female migrants. Migration programs tend to marginalize female migrants and to ignore women's special needs and experiences. The Third World Conference in Nairobi in 1985 indicated that women migrants were more likely to suffer deprivation, hardship, isolation, loss of status, and discrimination. Women bear the burden of a family's daily life, are more vulnerable than men, and face additional problems in the work force. Women migrants are identified as dependents and must be sponsored for admission to the host country; they are often subjected to physical and sexual abuse and must face discrimination in a foreign environment. The special needs of migrant women must be addressed at every stage of the migration process: the decision making stage, the integration into host communities, and the reintegration upon return. Women must be empowered. IOM recently established the International Center for Migration and Health. This center will focus on special problems faced by women migrants and on migrants' rights. Between the Nairobi and Beijing conferences the plight of migrant women was not prominently addressed. Migration references were made in Beijing's Platform of Action in scattered places in the text. Governments need to provide gender-sensitive human rights education and training for public officials in order to fulfill the Beijing Platform. The IOM technical assistance to Argentina illustrates what cooperative ventures are possible. IOM has made important progress in implementing Beijing's Platform.     

Exploring Social and Geographical Trajectories of Latin Americans in Sweden

Close to 20 percent of the Swedish population are of immigrant origin; one in eight is foreign‐born. About 45 percent of all immigrants originate from outside Europe and most of these have entered the country as refugees or relatives of refugees. Issues connected to immigration, including the number of immigrants, settlement patterns and level of social integration of ethnic minorities, have been much discussed in Sweden in recent decades. This paper focuses on the integration of Latin American immigrants in Sweden. It compares the level of integration – measured as educational achievement, labour market participation, income and housing – experienced by first and second generation migrants. I use register information allowing me to include all 1^st and 2^nd generation Latin Americans that have lived in Sweden between 1990 and 2006 (in total 127,000 individuals). Data are longitudinal, which means that individuals can be followed over time. I make use of the longitudinal material in order to study changes in residential patterns and in attempts to explain educational and employment outcomes for second generation Latin Americans. The general conclusion of the paper is that in terms of integration, LAC immigrants have an intermediate position compared to other immigrant categories; they are often better off than people from Africa and the Middle East but clearly below the level experienced by some other migrants, especially those from Western Europe. This cannot be explained by level of education. The average level of education is high for first generation immigrants from LA countries. For many people, the level of labour market participation and income increase over time but one important result of this analysis is that second generation Latin Americans seem to do less well in Sweden compared to many other second generation migrants.     

Patriarchal bargains in short-term women's migration from Bangladesh

This paper looks at the migration of women from Bangladesh to the Middle East as short-term migrants, mainly for work in the domestic care sector as domestic workers, housekeepers, nannies, cooks, etc. This group accounts for about 15 per cent of the total short-term migration cohort. They face particular challenges around not only the precarity of their employment but also in navigating a series of patriarchal norms in both Bangladesh and the destination countries in the Middle East. The paper will build on the work of Deniz Kandiyoti and her seminal work on patriarchal bargains. This paper will explore the challenges women face in migrating to the Middle East: in their decision to migrate, their experiences abroad, and on return and reintegration into Bangladesh society and their home life, and how these are determined by a series of patriarchal bargains both in Bangladesh and the destination country.