The role of social contacts in the employment status of immigrants

Abstract

Several studies in the migration literature have hypothesized that social contacts, in particular contacts with natives, are important for immigrant employment. Empirical work, however, has been inconclusive whether social contacts indeed have a causal effect. This study uses the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984—2004) to estimate the effect of social contacts of male and female immigrants on their employment position. Results show that contacts with family, friends and neighbours and being active as a volunteer have no significant effect on employment for both immigrant men and women. It is also found that having contacts with Germans increases the likelihood of male and female employment. The positive effect of having German contacts remains when social contacts are lagged, when host-country human capital is taken into account and also when unmeasured time-constant characteristics of immigrants are considered.

Active Ageing: Social and Cultural Integration of Older Turkish Alevi Refugees in London

“…The findings indicate the importance of transnational ties in enabling Turkish migrants to reconstruct places of identity in the host community, which are similarly observed in other European cities. 30 The present research highlights high levels of poverty among Alevi/Kurd refugee community in London, which conforms with other studies identifying Turkish immigrant communities as a disadvantaged group when compared to other immigrant groups in the UK and Europe. 31 According to Enneli and colleagues 32 , Turkish-speaking people are among the most disadvantaged groups in multicultural London in relation to education and qualifications.…”

The Interrelation of Immigrants’ Interethnic Ties and Socioeconomic Status in Germany. An Autoregressive Panel Analysis

“…The results are twofold: First, fixed effects regressions were conducted. On the one hand, these convincingly replicate preceding longitudinal findings for Germany (Kanas et al 2011(Kanas et al , 2012Lancee 2012). Yet, on the other hand, they also exemplify the limited capacity of accounting for reverse causality and simultaneity by the application of lagged predictors in fixed effects regressions.…”

“…Typically, scholars tend to differentiate between strong and weak ties or so-called bridging and bonding social capital. In integration research, contacts within the own ethnic enclave are usually considered as bonding social capital, while bridging social capital usually refers to Inter-ethnic contact (Drever and Hoffmeister 2008;Kanas et al 2011Kanas et al , 2012Lancee 2010;Maliepaard and Phalet 2012). On the one hand, bonding social capital prototypically connects individuals which are alike and whose relationship is characterized by high intimacy and trustworthiness.…”

Ethnic Composition and Friendship Segregation: Differential Effects for Adolescent Natives and Immigrants

“…For example, a lack of interethnic contact results in more ethnic prejudice, especially for natives ðPettigrew and Tropp 2006Þ, and the less contact immigrants have with natives, the lower they score on a range of socioeconomic outcomes ðAguilera 2005; Kanas, Van Tubergen, and Van der Lippe 2011;Lancee 2012Þ. In order to offset segregation and its effects, scholars and policy makers frequently turn to one of society's most influential institutions: schools. Schools are relatively closed institutions wherein lasting socialization experiences can be readily observed by scholars ðColeman 1994Þ and where policy makers arguably have the greatest capacity to treat a range of social problems.…”