English skills and early labour market integration: Evidence from humanitarian migrants in Australia

Cheng, Zhiming; Wang, Ben Zhe; Jiang, Zhou; Taksa, Lucy; Tani, Massimiliano

doi:10.1111/imig.12889

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 110 publications

(102 reference statements)

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“…Such challenges have wider implications for targeted strategies and funding opportunities to address refugee student needs within a complex backdrop of other students such as Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) migrant students and at‐risk students (Baker & Irwin, 2021). The literature extends beyond high school and tertiary education and moves towards addressing systematic inequality that Australian refugees face when they enter the labour market (Cheng et al, 2020; Udayar et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Milestones in the journey: The story of refugees becoming registered nurses in Australia

Chok

Lewis

Mannix

et al. 2021

Journal of Advanced Nursing

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The story of human flight in the modern era continues to be the story of refugees (and asylum seekers seeking refugee status; Viriasova, 2016;Weiwei, 2020). This is attested to by the abundance of literature about refugees who have made their way out of precarious situations dating back to World War I (Spitzer, 1999;Gatrell, 2008).Further, the stories of prisoners of war, people who have survived the holocaust and stories about the heroic feats of men and women during times of conflict continue to be told (Hately-Broad, 2005;Shmotkin et al., 2011). This paper covers the stories of refugees who became registered nurses (RNs) in Australia.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Milestones in the journey: The story of refugees becoming registered nurses in Australia

Chok

Lewis

Mannix

et al. 2021

Journal of Advanced Nursing

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“…Even standing alone, however, language proficiency enhances ties with the host population, access to information, and, as a form of human capital, the efficiency of the transmission of immigrants' educational and professional qualifications into maximum returns (Greinier, 1982). In its most salient manifestation, these qualities are reflected in the positive relations that exist between language and economic attainment (Cheng et al, 2021;Ghio et al, 2022;Guven & Islam, 2015), citizenship (Extra et al, 2009) and homeownership (Constant et al, 2007). Hence, language indirectly amplifies political influence (Kritz & Gurak, 2005).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Israeli‐Jewish immigrants in Germany: An assessment of the destination‐language acquisition model and the role of Holocaust memory

Rebhun

2022

Population Space and Place

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Since its reunification in 1990, Germany has been the destination of a large number of immigrants from Israel. They chose to settle in a country that is associated with the greatest tragedy in Jewish history, the Holocaust. Furthermore, they were raised in a country in which Holocaust memory and commemoration are major component of group identity. Within this context, the present study uses data from a survey carried out in 2014/2015 among Israeli‐Jewish immigrants in Germany (N = 510) to assess their linguistic adjustment in the new country. Incorporating factors of Holocaust memory (noneconomic incentives) into the model of destination‐language acquisition (MDLA), I ran similar equations for the three uses of language: speaking, reading and writing. Results from the multivariate analysis suggest that Holocaust memory does not inhibit the immigrants' proficiency in the German language. Accordingly, I adapt the indifference hypothesis, centring on maximizing gains and pleasure, and refute the two competing hypotheses, disruption and heightening. Variables of the MDLA—exposure, efficiency and economic incentives, and, especially, duration in the host country and young age at immigration—are significantly associated with proficiency in German; they were able to explain much of the variation in each of the uses of language. In the Discussion, I venture a proposal as to how fluency in German may help to attenuate intergroup tensions.

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“…Nonetheless, to our knowledge, to date three studies have empirically examined the link between PTSD symptoms and refugees' workforce participation. One study reported a weak negative effect (Cheng et al, 2021b), while two other studies revealed no direct effect. Yet, these latter studies have several methodological limitations which could question their findings, such as a cross-sectional research design, a small sample size, and a short residence duration (Hunkler & Khourshed, 2020;Wright et al, 2016).…”

Section: Health-and Family-related Challengesmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Although work experience in the country of origin could be less compatible with the host society's labor market (e.g., Friedberg, 2000), we argue that premigration work experience still is valuable. Indeed, there is evidence that pre-migration work experience positively predicts refugees' workforce participation (e.g., Cheng et al, 2021aCheng et al, , 2021b. One study reported a negative effect, but this was probably found because the authors did not control for age (Chiswick & Wang, 2016).…”

Section: Work-relevant Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Correspondingly, refugees with better local language proficiency have higher levels of job-search self-efficacy (Pajic et al, 2018). Given these findings, it is unsurprising that local language proficiency has been positively associated with migrants' and refugees' employment success in several countries, such as the US (e.g., Chiswick & Wenz, 2006), Canada (e.g., Frank, 2013), Australia (e.g., Cheng et al, 2021b;Guven & Islam, 2015;Waxman, 2001), the UK (Bloch, 2002;Dustmann & Fabbri, 2003), and also in non-English speaking countries such as Israel Chiswick et al, 2020), Germany (Aldashev et al, 2009), and the Netherlands (Chiswick & Wang, 2016;Zorlu & Hartog, 2018). Given the well-documented importance of local language proficiency for refugees' socioeconomic integration, we propose the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 3c (H3c): Local language proficiency is positively related to refugees' workforce participation.…”

Section: Work-relevant Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Psychological Assessment of Refugees in the Context of Work-Related Integration

Asfar¹

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This dissertation aimed to enhance the understanding of psychological assessment in relation to work-related integration of refugees through four empirical chapters. The second, third, and fourth chapters focused on individual-level predictors of refugees’ linguistic and economic integration outcomes, while the fifth chapter concentrated on the development and validation of an implicit instrument for the organizational context. Chapter 2 examined whether refugees could be grouped into subgroups based on their psychological profiles. The study was conducted among recently arrived refugees in the Netherlands, and it identified four clusters of refugees who shared similar profiles through means of cluster analysis: bright, incapable, distressed, and undistinctive-ordinary clusters. These clusters, as well as the refugee demographic subgroups based on nationality, gender, age, and educational level, were related to the refugees’ level of work search intention and local language proficiency. The results showed that the psychological clusters differed particularly in local language proficiency, with the bright and the incapable clusters showing respectively high and low local language proficiency test scores. However, the psychological clusters were substantially less differentiated in their level of work search intention. The refugee subgroups based on nationality, gender, and educational level showed larger differences in work search intention compared to the psychological clusters. Chapter 3 investigated the relationship between psychological traits and refugees’ local language proficiency and the potential incremental validity of psychological traits in predicting local language proficiency. Using cross-sectional assessment data of a large group of Syrian and Eritrean refugees living in the Netherlands, the results showed that GMA and work search intention showed positive relationships with local language proficiency, above and beyond the effects of refugees’ demographic variables and psychological distress. Additionally, one’s work search intention was found to strengthen the effect of GMA on local language proficiency. Contrary to the predictions, no positive linear effects on local language proficiency for Conscientiousness and Openness were observed, although some evidence was found for curvilinear relationships between these traits and the outcome. Chapter 4 introduced and tested a novel framework of individual-difference factors as predictors of refugees’ workforce participation. The framework organizes individual-difference factors into two hindering and two facilitating variable groups: Impeding demographics and health- and family-related challenges (hindering), and acquired human and social capital and work-relevant traits (facilitating). The framework was examined using time-lagged data with a five-year span among Syrian and Eritrean refugees living in the Netherlands. The findings revealed that several hindering factors (i.e., older age, being a woman, and physical health problems) and several facilitating factors (i.e., pre-migration educational level, pre-migration work experience, local language proficiency, frequency of contact with natives, Extraversion, GMA, and work centrality) contributed to predicting one or more of the studied employment outcomes. Chapter 5 focused on the development and validation of an integrity-related implicit instrument for the organizational context. Implicit instruments offer a solution to the cross-cultural validity issues of traditional personality inventories. This instrument assesses the integrity-related personality trait of Honesty-Humility, which has been shown to be an important trait for employment outcomes. The study found that the implicit measure of Honesty-Humility was positively related to supervisor-rated job performance, and this relationship was mediated by employees’ behavioral intentions to comply with ethical standards. Overall, these chapters provide insights into the psychological assessment of refugees in relation to work-related integration and offer practical implications for policymakers and practitioners working in the field of refugee integration.

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English skills and early labour market integration: Evidence from humanitarian migrants in Australia

Cited by 11 publications

References 110 publications

Milestones in the journey: The story of refugees becoming registered nurses in Australia

Milestones in the journey: The story of refugees becoming registered nurses in Australia

Israeli‐Jewish immigrants in Germany: An assessment of the destination‐language acquisition model and the role of Holocaust memory

The Psychological Assessment of Refugees in the Context of Work-Related Integration

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