Immigrant Settlement Work in Canada: Limits and Possibilities for Professionalization

Cet article dépeint l’émergence du travail d’établissement auprès des immigrants au Canada et explore les perspectives d'avenir de celui‐ci en tant que profession. À l'heure actuelle, le travail d'établissement comprend trois formes de pratique : (1) un travail aux contours flous; (2) une spécialité du travail social; et (3) une profession en émergence. Cet article soutient que le travail d'établissement aura probablement un avenir professionnel. Cependant, la question de savoir s'il devient une profession indépendante dépend en grande partie du régime de financement du secteur des services d'établissement. Si le régime de financement fédéral et à court terme continue d'exister, le travail d'établissement cherchera encore sa définition au sein du domaine général du travail de service social. S'il émerge un régime de financement provincial et à long terme, les perspectives d'un travail d'établissement professionnel et indépendant s'amélioreront. This paper portrays the emergence of Canadian settlement work with immigrants and explores its prospects as an occupation. Currently, settlement work includes three forms of practice: (1) a loose occupation; (2) a specialty of social work; and (3) an emerging profession. The paper argues that settlement work is likely to have a professional future. However, whether or not it will become an independent profession depends largely on the funding regime of the settlement service sector. If the existing federal and short‐term funding regime continues, settlement work will still be trying to define itself in the broader field of social service work. If a provincial and long‐term funding regime emerges, prospects for an independent professional settlement work will improve.     

Understanding Motives for Migration in Working with Immigrant Families

There are good reasons to expect immigrant families' experiences in the host society to differ vastly. What impact might rationales for relocation have on immigrant families' pre-migration and post-migration characteristics in mainstream America? This article reviews existing research by drawing on various migration theories and explores the potential linkage between forces that propelled the move and immigrant families' adaptation patterns that followed. Three non-mutually exclusive principal motives were proposed to explain the substantial differences that exist among immigrants. Also considered are theoretical explanations that would facilitate effective practice and intervention among social work practitioners and policy planners.     

Immigrant Gateways and Hispanic Migration to New Destinations1

Our understanding of the underlying demographic components of population change in new Hispanic destinations is limited. In this paper, we (1) compare Hispanic migration patterns in traditional settlement areas with new growth in emerging Hispanic destinations; (2) examine the role of immigration vis‐à‐vis domestic migration in spurring Hispanic population redistribution; and (3) document patterns of migrant selectivity, distinguishing between in‐migrants and non‐migrant Hispanics at both the origin and destination. We use several recent datasets, including the 1990 and 2000 Public Use Microdata Samples (which include new regional geocodes), and the 2005 and 2006 files of the American Community Survey. Our results document the widespread dispersion of the Hispanic population over the 1990–2006 period from established Hispanic gateways into new Hispanic areas and other parts of the country. Nearly one‐half of Hispanic net migration in new destinations comes from domestic gains. In contrast, both established and other Hispanic areas depend entirely on immigration, with each losing domestic migrants to high growth areas. Migrant flows also are highly differentiated by education, citizenship, and nativity. To fully understand the spatial diffusion of Hispanics requires a new appreciation of the complex interplay among immigration, internal domestic migration, and fertility.     

Immigrant Settlement Patterns: The Role of Metropolitan Characteristics*

Immigration continues to change the social, economic, and political landscapes of urban America. Consequently, scholars, as well as the general public, are interested in the internal migration patterns of immigrants. In this research, we identify and explain the characteristics of metropolitan areas that have the strongest effects on the percentage change in the foreign‐born population between 1990 and 2000. Using lagged independent variables and a sample of 150 metropolitan areas, we find that settlement patterns among immigrants are diverging from traditional patterns. That is, those metropolitan areas that had moderately high levels of globalization and lower costs of living as well as lower disadvantage indicators (e.g., percentage poverty) in 1990, had larger increases in percentage foreign‐born between 1990 and 2000 compared to areas with lower levels of globalization and higher costs of living and disadvantage. These trends suggest the increasing importance of second‐tier metropolises such as Atlanta, Phoenix, and Las Vegas in understanding where immigrants settle.     

Predicting Immigrant Employment Sequences in the First Years of Settlement1

Drawing on data from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada, we analyze factors shaping new immigrants’ month‐by‐month employment trajectories over their first 4 years of settlement. We treat trajectories as multidimensional and holistic entities, seeking to predict the correlates of a set of typical pathways identified via optimal matching techniques and cluster analysis. Human capital attributes and household context shapes trajectories in important ways, but patterns related to bias and discrimination are not straightforward and social ties have little impact.     

社群隔离、身份认同与流动青年城市定居意愿

流动青年初入城市,在现实社会中存在的社群隔离现象会严重阻碍群体融入城市。利用2017年流动人口动态监测数据,尝试对当前流动青年面临的社群隔离及身份认同进行深入分析,探究湖北省流动青年定居意愿的影响效应。运用结构方程模型进行剖析发现,流动青年的城镇定居意愿和城镇落户意愿不一致,虽然事实性定居意愿强烈,但是制度性定居意愿却偏低;青年群体流入城市后产生社群隔离(社会距离和心理距离),会对其身份认同和城市定居产生显著负向影响,社会距离对定居意愿影响显著,心理距离对身份认同影响显著;当流动青年产生社群隔离时,其身份认同对于定居意愿的影响将会变得不显著。由此,当前新型城镇化的政策设计应注重完善流动青年户籍制度的保障,并积极鼓舞青年流动人口在城市的社会交往和心理融入,减轻社群隔离现象,从而形成流动青年的城镇定居意愿。     

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

The 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.     

The Experience of Migration: Settlement and Adjustment in Milan*

We examine two perspectives on the management of migration, involving the distinction between settlement and adjustment. The latter refers to urban migration that involves significant personal maladjustment, while settlement emphasizes the importance of social networks and coping strategies in moderating the consequences of migration. Using a sample representing both rural and urban origins and differential length of residence in Milan, it is shown that (contrary to assumptions involved in the “maladjustment” perspective) neither prior urban experience nor length of exposure to urban life is associated with better adjustment. Various coping strutegies are explored (e. g., pre-migration and social-network help) as potential contributors to successful settlement. Finally, the “settler” (in contrast to the “maladjuster”) is shown to be more insulated from urban-oriented change in life style and ideology.     

A Global Labor Market: Factors Motivating the Sponsorship and Temporary Migration of Skilled Workers to Australia1

The recruitment of skilled foreign workers is becoming increasingly important to many industrialized countries. This paper examines the factors motivating the sponsorship and temporary migration of skilled workers to Australia under the temporary business entry program, a new development in Australia's migration policy. The importance of labor demand in the destination country in stimulating skilled temporary migration is clearly demonstrated by the reasons given by employers in the study while the reasons indicated by skilled temporary migrants for coming to work in Australia show the importance of both economic and non‐economic factors in motivating skilled labor migration.     

Recent Immigrant Settlement in the Nonmetropolitan United States: Evidence from Internal Census Data*

Abstract In the 1990s, studies have documented widespread growth of immigrants in U.S. communities not known as common destinations in the past. This trend has fueled population growth in some nonmetropolitan areas and offset population decline in other areas. In this paper, we examine the implications of recent foreign born in-migration for rural America. Our focus is on a collection of 59 nonmetropolitan counties where growth in foreign born stock offset declines in U.S. native population and resulted in increased local population by 2000. To understand these nonmetropolitan offset counties, we use confidential Census Bureau data that offer us the detailed geography and larger sample size needed to closely examine spatial shifts in the foreign born population, especially those recently arrived. Our findings illustrate dramatic compositional shifts in the populations of these areas, and suggest new demographic complexity in nonmetropolitan areas in the 21^st century.     

Migration Decisions,Acculturation, and Overweight among Asian and Latino Immigrant Adults in the United States

Using the 2002–2003 National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), we examine relationships between acculturation, migration decisions, and overweight among Latino and Asian immigrants. Pooled logistic regression models showed no evidence that acculturation and migration decisions were related to overweight among Asians, but models for Latinos indicated that aspects of acculturation (duration of US residence and English proficiency) and migration decisions (moving to find a job) were significantly associated with overweight status. However, interaction models also highlighted the gendered nature of the acculturation–weight relationship, such that country‐of‐origin ties can have different implications for the overweight status of male and female immigrants.     

Settlement Intentions and Immigrant Integration: The Case of Recently Arrived EU‐Immigrants in the Netherlands

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of settlement intentions on the integration of recently arrived EU‐immigrants in the Netherlands. Hypotheses on differences in integration, both shortly after arrival and over time, are derived from the intergenerational immigrant integration model. Based on two waves of the New Immigrants to the Netherlands Survey, a longitudinal multilevel model was estimated. Most differences were found with regard to the level of integration shortly after arrival. Immigrants who intended to stay had more contact with natives, were more proficient in Dutch, and consumed more host country media than immigrants who intend to leave. On the other hand, they worked fewer hours per week than immigrants who intend to leave. Differences over time were only found with regard to Dutch language proficiency: immigrants who intend to stay increased their proficiency more strongly than immigrants who intend to leave.     

When the Border Is “Everywhere”: State‐level Variation in Migration Control and Changing Settlement Patterns of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population in the United States

Governments increasingly exclude unauthorized migrants from labor markets and public provisions and apprehend those who have settled in the territory. In the U.S., recent increases in interior control coincided with a reduction in (the growth of) the estimated unauthorized population. This study describes the mechanisms through which interior control may impact migration patterns and analyzes whether interior control has been responsible for the changing settlement patterns. We find that when the effects of labor markets and internal dynamics of migration processes are controlled, policy has a (moderate) negative effect on estimated levels of unauthorized residence, both in individual states and the U.S. as a whole.     

Double Return Migration: Failed Returns to Poland Leading to Settlement Abroad and New Transnational Strategies

Many Poles who have arrived in the UK since EU accession show signs of settling. Often (especially for families with school‐age children) this is a gradual process. Other Poles have returned to Poland, but Poland currently seems to be having problems keeping its return migrants. Many go back only to depart again. This article focuses on why some returnees change their minds and decide to make a long‐term home abroad. It explores the implications of this decision for transnational practices and identities. It argues that often the key objective is stability. Choosing to settle abroad in the hope of a stable life, returnees attempt to live less split lives. While maintaining certain transnational practices, they scale down others, such as return visits to Poland and keeping well‐informed about Polish current events. Simultaneously, they make a decisive effort to integrate into the regular UK labour and housing markets.     

Albanian and Polish Migration to Italy: The Micro‐Processes of Policy,Implementation and Immigrant Survival Strategies1

This article examines how undocumented immigrants take advantage or react to the windows of opportunity opened to them by immigration policy design and implementation practices in the country of destination. The study concentrates on the case of Albanian and Polish immigrants in Italy. Looking into the policy provisions regarding entry, stay and immigrant employment in Italy, as well as the practices of implementation adopted by the public administration, we study how immigrants prepare and execute their migration plans, how they find employment once in Italy, and how they adapt their plans to the institutional and social environments of the host country as well as their own wishes and needs. We thus highlight the micro‐level of the migration phenomenon and the dynamic relationship between policy design, implementation and immigrant strategies.