Labour Force Participation and Employment of Humanitarian Migrants: Evidence from the Building a New Life in Australia Longitudinal Data

Abstract

This study uses the longitudinal data from the Building a New Life in Australia survey to examine the relationships between human capital and labour market participation and employment status among recently arrived/approved humanitarian migrants. It includes attention to the heterogeneity of labour force participation and employment status across genders and also migration pathways. We find that the likelihood of participating in the labour force is higher for those who had preimmigration paid job experience, completed study/job training and have job searching knowledge/skills in Australia and possess higher proficiency in spoken English. We find that the chance of getting a paid job is negatively related to having better pre-immigration education, but it is positively related to having unpaid work experience and job searching skills in Australia, and better health.

Explaining recently arrived refugees' labor market participation: The role of policy characteristics among Syrians in the Netherlands

“…(Re)gaining lost resources and acquiring new skills relevant to the host society has been found crucial in securing employment (Hobfoll, 2001;Ryan et al, 2008). As shown in previous studies, newcomers' labor market positions can be explained through a wide range of such resources (for an overview, see Heath and Cheung, 2007;Ott, 2013), including pre-and post-migration cultural capital (Waxman, 2001;Chiswick and Miller, 2009;Hartog and Zorlu, 2009;Kanas and van Tubergen, 2009;de Vroome and van Tubergen, 2010;Correa-Velez et al, 2013;Cheng et al, 2019), social capital (Waxman, 2001;de Vroome and van Tubergen, 2010;Kanas et al, 2011;Correa-Velez et al, 2013;Cheung and Phillimore, 2014) and personal capital (Phillimore, 2011;Walther et al, 2019).…”

“…They did however not find an impact of English language proficiency. Also in Australia, Cheng et al (2019) indicated the impact of pre-immigration paid job experience, completed study/job training, having job searching knowledge/skills in Australia, possessing higher proficiency in spoken English and mental health. Touching upon the role of (labor market) policies, Kanas and Steinmetz (2021) establish the significant role of such policies in the economic disadvantage of family migrants and refugees.…”

“…Originating from human capital theory (Nafukho et al, 2004), various forms of individual capital are most popular in explaining differences in labor market positions. Because capital is relational, a distinction is made between pre-and postmigration human capital (Friedberg, 2000;de Vroome and van Tubergen, 2010;Cheng et al, 2019). Regarding pre-migration capital, home country education and work experience can be important for economic success (Connor, 2010;de Vroome and van Tubergen, 2010).…”

“…Regarding post-migration human capital, education acquired in host countries is considered important in enhancing employability directly or indirectly (Hartog and Zorlu, 2009;Kanas and van Tubergen, 2009;de Vroome and van Tubergen, 2010). Other forms of post-migration human capital associated with labor market success are host country language (Waxman, 2001;Kanas and van Tubergen, 2009;de Vroome and van Tubergen, 2010;Koopmans, 2016;Cheng et al, 2019) and voluntary work experience (Bakker et al, 2018;Cheng et al, 2019). Bourdieu (1986) classified these types of knowledge, skills and qualifications as cultural capital but also indicated social capital as fundamental resource.…”

Looking Beyond Employment: Participation Profiles of Syrian Refugees in the Netherlands

“…Interestingly, the now extensive research literature on the position of refugees generally focuses on just one outcome indicator. A good deal of research has for example been carried out on the labour market position of refugees (de Vroome and van Tubergen, 2010;Ott, 2013;Gathmann, 2014;Bakker, 2016) and the determinants of the command of the host country language (Waxman, 2001;Kanas and van Tubergen, 2009;Khoo, 2010;de Vroome and van Tubergen, 2010;Cheng et al, 2019). Much less attention has been given to the extent to which refugees combine certain forms of participation.…”