When the Export of Social Problems Is No Longer Possible: Immigration Policies and Unemployment in Switzerland

Throughout the twentieth century, Switzerland has been one of the OECD countries with the highest proportion of immigrants in its population. The aim of this article is to show how institutional factors have shaped the opportunities for change in immigration and immigrant‐employment‐related policies there in the 1990s. Whereas unemployment had remained low in the 1970s and 1980s, there was a marked increase at the beginning of the 1990s. Existing migration policies were considered a central cause of this increase, since the great majority of foreigners who had come and settled in Switzerland in the periods of economic expansion were low‐skilled, and were now over‐represented among the unemployed. The reforms undertaken in the field of immigration and integration policy to respond to these new problems have been determined by specific institutional factors: direct democracy, a defensive migration regime, the development of immigrant rights and the weak autonomy of the central state. These factors account to a large extent for the limited scope and specific pathways of policy reforms in these two domains.     

人口流动与产业结构升级的相关性分析

利用SPSS软件对全国和四大经济板块的相关数据进行数据处理,即分析各板块不同产业的发展与人口流入规模的相关关系,结果表明两者的关联度普遍较高,但不同板块的相同产业与人口流入的关联度差异却很大。这就要求不同板块内的各地区根据本身的产业与人口流入的关联度作出科学的人口预测,并制定相应的有预见性的政策。     

Lagging behind in suburbia: Suburban versus urban newcomers’ employment settlement service outcomes in Metro Vancouver,Canada

Suburbanization is reshaping the context of immigrant settlement in Canada. Newcomer immigrants are increasingly settling initially in suburban communities as opposed to traditional receiving neighborhoods in urban centers. However, the quality of settlement services for newcomers to suburban neighborhoods has lagged behind, creating a mismatch between newcomer settlement patterns and service provision. As settlement patterns are recognized as significant determinants of employment success for newcomers and employment achievement is a key theme of integration, this study compares suburban and urban newcomers’ satisfaction with employment settlement services, associated financial experiences and coping mechanisms. Drawing upon qualitative interviews with 43 newcomer immigrants in Vancouver and three surrounding suburbs, we argue that suburban newcomers experience more difficulties with employment services from settlement service agencies than do urban newcomers. Subsequent unemployment may contribute to suburban settlers experiencing greater difficulty paying their monthly bills than do urban immigrants.     

西北农村人口对生态环境的压力与生态移民的战略选择

人口与生态环境问题密切相关,对大量数据、指标的分析结果表明,西北农村地区人口对生态环境造成的压力已经十分严重,生态移民是最重要的缓解人口压力的途径。目前生态移民实践相对于生态环境保护的要求还存在一定差距,因此,还必须进一步加大生态移民的力度,拓宽生态移民的安置途径,把生态移民与农村城镇化发展结合起来,才能最终从根本上解决生态移民问题。     

Are there gender and country of origin differences in immigrant labor market outcomes across European destinations?

The 1994–2000 waves of the European Community Household Panel are used to study the earnings of immigrants as compared to native workers in 15 European countries. At the time of arrival, there is a significant negative partial effect of foreign birth on individual earnings compared to the native born in the destination of around 40%. These differences vary across origins and destinations and by gender. Immigrant earnings catch-up to those of the native born after around 18 years in the destination. Schooling matters more for earnings for women, whereas, language skills are relatively more important for men.

Disagreement over the immigration of low-income earners in a welfare state

This paper studies natives’ economically motivated preferences over different levels of immigration of low-income earners. Immigration affects natives through both intra- and intergenerational redistribution programmes and in the labour market. Our analysis suggests, in a welfare state that looks after the poor and the aged, economic motivation does not necessarily lead a native to have an extreme opinion on the preferable level of immigration, although it causes disagreement among natives. We find, regardless of parameter values, high-income earners prefer at least as much immigration as low-income earners who, in turn, prefer at least as much immigration as pensioners. The median voter is then likely to be a low-income native.

The intersection of class origin and immigration background in structuring social capital: the role of transnational ties

The study investigates inequalities in access to social capital based on social class origin and immigration background and examines the role of transnational ties in explaining these differences. Social capital is measured with a position generator methodology that separates between national and transnational contacts in a sample of young adults in Sweden with three parental backgrounds: at least one parent born in Iran or Yugoslavia, or two Sweden‐born parents. The results show that having socioeconomically advantaged parents is associated with higher levels of social capital. Children of immigrants are found to have a greater access to social capital compared to individuals with native background, and the study shows that this is related to transnational contacts, parents’ education and social class in their country of origin. Children of immigrants tend to have more contacts abroad, while there is little difference in the amount of contacts living in Sweden across the three groups. It is concluded that knowledge about immigration group resources help us predict its member's social capital, but that the analysis also needs to consider how social class trajectories and migration jointly structure national and transnational contacts.     

台湾新移民及其子女教育现状与未来发展

台湾地区社会在政治因素、经济政策的影响与发展下,自20世纪90年代起逐渐增加与非台湾籍通婚的现象,使得台湾在人口结构上发生了巨大变化,非台湾籍配偶及其子女己在台湾地区人口结构上成为了重要的群体,新移民子女教育也成为台湾地区教育中重要环节。从总体看,对于新移民及其子女的教育和辅导主要包括语文教育、生活适应辅导和推广多元文化活动三种类型,早期比较偏重课业辅导,教育理念具有同化倾向,伴随着多元文化理念的普及,现今教育活动中加入了学习母语和祖籍文化等多元内容。     

Inclusive schooling: fostering citizenship among immigrant students in Europe

Growing ethnic and cultural diversity within Europe has brought increased attention to the impact and inclusion of immigrant populations and has also presented societies with valuable opportunities for intercultural learning between diverse groups. Using the International Civic and Citizenship Study data from 24 European education systems, in this paper we explore whether fostering an atmosphere of inclusion in schools relates to select attitudes and behaviours typically associated with an inclusive society, particularly among immigrant students. Our study is able to tease out some of the differences related to social class among immigrant students, opening up important avenues for discussion and future research. According to our findings, first generation immigrant students from higher socio-economic status backgrounds tended to have significantly more negative attitudes toward their resident country. Findings also collectively suggest that local-level practices, such as improving immigrant student participation in schools and positive relations between immigrant students and teachers, could be significant factors in fostering an inclusive society. Based on these results, we describe several education policies and practices that can promote greater inclusion, such as encouraging increased civic participation within the school and community, and providing a forum where students can contribute to school governance.     

Immigration and violence: The offsetting effects of immigrant concentration on Latino violence

Despite longstanding interest in the effects of immigration on American society, there are few studies that examine the relationship between immigration and crime. Drawing from social disorganization theory and community resource/social capital perspectives, this study examines the effects of Latino immigration on Latino violence. Data on violence (i.e., homicide, robbery, and Violent Index) and the structural conditions of Latino populations are drawn from the California Arrest Data (CAL), New York State Arrest Data (NYSAD), and U.S. Census data for approximately 400 census places during the 1999–2001 period. Findings suggest that immigrant concentration has no direct effect on Latino homicide or Violent Index rates but may reduce Latino robbery. Immigration also appears to have multiple, offsetting indirect effects on Latino violence that work through social disorganization and community resource measures. These results suggest that (1) immigrant concentration does not contribute to Latino violence and may even reduce some forms of violence, (2) immigration simultaneously stabilizes and destabilizes structural conditions in Latino populations, and (3) it is useful to examine both the direct and indirect effects of immigration on crime.