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Article
Publication date: 8 July 2019

Skilled immigrants: a resettlement information literacy framework

Elham Sayyad Abdi, Helen Partridge, Christine Bruce and Jason Watson

The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of skilled immigrants’ lived experience of using information to learn about their new setting.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of skilled immigrants’ lived experience of using information to learn about their new setting.

Design/methodology/approach

Thematic analysis was conducted on a qualitative data set collected through 16 semi-structured interviews with newly arrived skilled immigrants in Australia.

Findings

The study uncovered six different themes of experiencing using information to learn among skilled immigrants. The themes, presented as a framework, explain skilled immigrants learn about their new life through: attending to shared stories by others; getting engaged; researching; comparing and contrasting past and present; being reflective; and being directly educated.

Research limitations/implications

The study presents the theory-to-practice translation approach of “information experience design” that enables the enactment of theoretical understanding of information research.

Originality/value

The study invites, encourages and enables information professionals to take part in interdisciplinary conversations about integration of skilled immigrants in their host countries. Using the presented framework in the study, information professionals will be able to explain skilled immigrants’ learning about their new setting from an information lens. This provides information professionals an opportunity to work with immigration service stakeholders to help them incorporate the presented framework in their real-world practice and service. Such practice and services are of potential to support newly arrived skilled immigrants to become more information literate citizens of the host society who can participate more fully in their host society.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 75 no. 4
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-02-2019-0034
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

  • Information literacy
  • Qualitative research
  • Information use
  • Information experience design
  • Information literacy framework
  • Skilled immigrants

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Article
Publication date: 12 June 2017

“I am from nowhere”: identity and self-perceived health status of skilled immigrants employed in low-skilled service sector jobs

Rajendra Prasad Subedi and Mark Warren Rosenberg

The foreign-born skilled immigrant population is growing rapidly in Canada but finding a job that utilizes immigrants’ skills, knowledge and experience is challenging for…

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Abstract

Purpose

The foreign-born skilled immigrant population is growing rapidly in Canada but finding a job that utilizes immigrants’ skills, knowledge and experience is challenging for them. The purpose of this paper is to understand the self-perceived health and social status of skilled immigrants who were working in low-skilled jobs in the service sector in Ottawa, Canada.

Design/methodology/approach

In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews with 19 high-skilled immigrants working as taxi drivers and convenience store workers in the city of Ottawa, Canada were analysed using a grounded theory approach.

Findings

Five major themes emerged from the data: high expectations but low achievements; credential devaluation, deskilling and wasted skills; discrimination and loss of identity; lifestyle change and poor health behaviour; and poor mental and physical health status.

Social implications

The study demonstrates the knowledge between what skilled immigrants expect when they arrive in Canada and the reality of finding meaningful employment in a country where international credentials are less likely to be recognized. The study therefore contributes to immigration policy reform which would reduce barriers to meaningful employment among immigrants reducing the impacts on health resulting from employment in low-skilled jobs.

Originality/value

This study provides unique insights into the experience and perceptions of skilled immigrants working in low-skilled jobs. It also sheds light on the “healthy worker effect” hypothesis which is a highly discussed and debated issue in the occupational health literature.

Details

International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-09-2015-0035
ISSN: 1747-9894

Keywords

  • Canada
  • Health
  • Stress
  • Social status
  • Low-skilled jobs
  • Skilled immigrant

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Book part
Publication date: 28 March 2006

The impact of immigrant dynasties on wage inequality

Michael Ben-Gad

I construct a set of dynamic macroeconomic models to analyze the effect of unskilled immigration on wage inequality. The immigrants or their descendants do not remain…

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Abstract

I construct a set of dynamic macroeconomic models to analyze the effect of unskilled immigration on wage inequality. The immigrants or their descendants do not remain unskilled – over time they may approach or exceed the general level of educational attainment. In the baseline model, the economy's capital supply is determined endogenously by the savings behavior of infinite-lived dynasties, and I also consider models in which the supply of capital is perfectly elastic, or exogenously determined. I derive a simple formula that determines the time discounted value of the skill premium enjoyed by college-educated workers following a change in the rate of immigration for unskilled workers, or a change in the degree or rate at which unskilled immigrants become skilled. I compare the calculations of the skill premiums to data from the US Current Population Survey to determine the long-run effect of different immigrant groups on wage inequality in the United States.

Details

The Economics of Immigration and Social Diversity
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0147-9121(05)24003-7
ISBN: 978-1-84950-390-7

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Article
Publication date: 10 December 2018

High-skilled female immigrants: career strategies and experiences

Saba Colakoglu, Dilek G. Yunlu and Gamze Arman

The purpose of this paper is to uncover career-related issues that high-skilled female immigrants face and their strategies for rebuilding their careers upon migration for…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to uncover career-related issues that high-skilled female immigrants face and their strategies for rebuilding their careers upon migration for a diverse range of reasons including following a spouse, furthering education and self-initiated expatriation.

Design/methodology/approach

Using grounded theory to explore this topic, the authors performed 14 in-depth interviews with female immigrants that fit pre-determined inclusion criteria for high-skilled (e.g. educated, gainfully and professionally employed). The study context of immigration is the USA, and the authors performed interviews with high-skilled immigrants from Turkey – an underrepresented nation in the US migrant population.

Findings

Content analysis of in-depth interviews revealed five primary theoretical themes that captured the career experiences of these individuals: non-linear career entry, career orientation, strong commitment and will to succeed, socialization patterns at work and support network. Integrating these findings with theories on adult learning, the authors developed an experiential learning model of career reconstruction among high-skilled immigrants.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the global mobility literature by developing an experiential learning theory of careers and taking a gendered perspective to the career experiences of high-skilled female immigrants. It answers the questions: what are the individual and situation factors associated with career success among high-skilled female immigrants? and what is the process that high-skilled immigrants go through to rebuild their careers?

Details

Journal of Global Mobility: The Home of Expatriate Management Research, vol. 6 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JGM-10-2017-0039
ISSN: 2049-8799

Keywords

  • Immigration
  • Female careers
  • Skilled migration
  • High-skilled immigrants

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Article
Publication date: 2 December 2019

Natives’ skills and attitudes towards immigrants: evidence from 20 OECD countries

Seong Hee Kim

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether natives’ attitudes toward immigration is associated with an influx of high- and low-skilled immigrants. The current…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether natives’ attitudes toward immigration is associated with an influx of high- and low-skilled immigrants. The current research focuses on selected 20 OECD countries as destination countries.

Design/methodology/approach

A pseudo-panel based on age cohort is constructed to control for the potential unobservable individual characteristics. The random effects and within estimators (where applicable) are applied in the panel-data setting.

Findings

Regression results indicate that natives’ attitudes depend on their labor market exposure and skill type. Low-skill immigrant inflows are negatively associated with natives’ attitudes, but the magnitude is reduced proportionally to their share of the high skilled. The association between immigrant flows and attitudes is particularly strong for the prime-age cohorts, which can be explained by the labor market competition mechanism.

Research limitations/implications

Given the data limitations, not all destination countries could be analyzed but only selected OECD countries. However, this situation has resulted in the sample destination countries sharing similar characteristics with advanced economies.

Originality/value

Although the majority of previous studies are based on survey questions on attitudes toward immigrants with respective skill type, the current study focuses on the effects of the actual immigration flows. Natives’ attitudes respond sensitively to the actual changes in the number of migrants. The selection of OECD countries makes the characteristics of the destination countries substantially homogeneous.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 41 no. 4
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-03-2019-0117
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

  • Immigration
  • Attitudes toward immigrants
  • Immigrants skill
  • Labour market competition
  • Natives’ skill

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Article
Publication date: 27 March 2009

Ethnicity and the immigration of highly skilled workers to the United States

Guillermina Jasso

This paper aims to examine ethnicity among highly skilled immigrants to the USA.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine ethnicity among highly skilled immigrants to the USA.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines five classic components of ethnicity – country of birth, race, skin color, language, and religion – among persons admitted to legal permanent residence in the USA in 2003, as principals in the three main employment categories (EB‐1, EB‐2, and EB‐3), using data collected in the US New Immigrant Survey.

Findings

The visa categories have distinctive ethnic configurations. India dominates EB‐2, European countries and Canada EB‐1. The ethnicity portfolio contains more languages than religions. Language is shed before religion, and religion may not be shed at all, except among the ultra highly skilled of EB‐1. Highly skilled immigrants are mostly male; they are not immune from lapsing into illegality; they have a shorter visa process than their cohortmates; smaller proportions than in the cohort overall intend to remain in the USA. Larger proportions in EB‐2 and EB‐3 sent remittances than in the cohort overall. A little measure of assimilation – using dollars to describe earnings in the country of last residence, even when requested to use the country's currency – suggests that highly skilled immigrants are more likely to “think in dollars” than their cohortmates.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is like an aerial reconnaissance. It is necessary to now go under the ledges and into the caves.

Originality/value

The data used are the first ever collected on a probability sample of new legal immigrants to the USA. It is expected that many researchers will use these data to generate valuable new knowledge.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 30 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/01437720910948375
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

  • Ethnic groups
  • Immigrants
  • Skilled workers
  • United States of America

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Book part
Publication date: 20 June 2003

DETERMINANTS OF IMMIGRANT SELECTIVITY AND SKILLS

Madeline Zavodny

Whether immigrants are positively or negatively self-selected is much disputed. Whereas most previous studies have addressed this question by comparing the earnings of…

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Abstract

Whether immigrants are positively or negatively self-selected is much disputed. Whereas most previous studies have addressed this question by comparing the earnings of immigrants to those of U.S. natives, this analysis uses occupation to examine the skill level of immigrants relative to their home country population. Data on the occupational distribution of individuals granted legal permanent residence in 1995 indicate that the proportion of immigrants in skilled occupations is related to the corresponding proportion in source countries but not necessarily to the return to skill and other economic factors in the country of origin.

Details

Worker Well-Being and Public Policy
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0147-9121(03)22008-2
ISBN: 978-1-84950-213-9

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Article
Publication date: 28 June 2011

Highly‐skilled Colombian immigrants in Spain: Do they have to return home to start up in business?

Francisco Javier Matiz Bulla and Esther Hormiga

The purpose of this paper is to understand why high‐skilled immigrants from a developing country (Colombia) are returning to their home country to create businesses…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand why high‐skilled immigrants from a developing country (Colombia) are returning to their home country to create businesses instead of starting up in their host country (Spain).

Design/methodology/approach

A case study methodology was used to present the experiences of three high‐skilled immigrants. All subjects presented had migrated from Colombia to Spain, held degrees from a Colombian university, had a university background in entrepreneurship and intended to run a business in Colombia instead of in Spain.

Findings

This study shows how the expectations of highly‐skilled immigrants can influence their decision to return to their home country to set up in business. Because of their skills and international experience, these individuals have good professional prospects in their home countries and a lower tolerance of the barriers and difficulties encountered in the host country than immigrants with other profiles.

Research limitations/implications

In exploring the high‐skilled immigrants' reasons for returning home, future research should pay more attention to personal motivations and cultural differences.

Practical implications

The findings will enable policy makers in developing and developed countries to improve policies for attracting or retaining highly‐skilled immigrants or emigrants, especially those with entrepreneurial intentions.

Originality/value

In a group of immigrants whose skills and talents could offer considerable added value either to their host country or to their home country, this paper examines some of the key processes that influence their decision of where to locate their entrepreneurial activity.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 53 no. 5
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/00400911111147749
ISSN: 0040-0912

Keywords

  • Highly‐skilled Colombian immigrants
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Higher education
  • Spain
  • Case studies
  • Developing countries
  • Business formation
  • Immigrants
  • Colombia

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Article
Publication date: 3 February 2012

Careers and talents not to be wasted: Skilled immigrants’ journeys through psychological states en route to satisfying employment

Jill Pearson, Michelle Hammond, Eithne Heffernan and Tom Turner

In many cases, immigrants work in jobs that are incommensurate with their qualifications and work experience. The aim of this study is to examine the experience of this…

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Abstract

Purpose

In many cases, immigrants work in jobs that are incommensurate with their qualifications and work experience. The aim of this study is to examine the experience of this “talent waste” in Polish immigrants working in the Irish labour market.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used a mixed method approach. First, 309 Polish immigrants were surveyed about their employment experiences since moving to Ireland. Second, 12 skilled Polish immigrants – those with third level qualifications – were interviewed. Interviews were semi‐structured and focused on the factors leading to their underemployment and how they responded to it psychologically.

Findings

The interviews revealed that immigrants to Ireland reported fewer barriers to skilled employment than immigrants in other research. Also, most had not sought employment that would utilise their qualifications when they first moved to Ireland. A typology of four psychological responses to employment status was put forth based on immigrant sense of professional identity and experience of dissonance.

Practical implications

The results of the study have important implications for employers, academic institutions, government representatives and skilled immigrants themselves.

Originality/value

Unlike other studies in this area, this study provides rich description and unique insight into the experiences of skilled Polish immigrants to Ireland over a number of years, as well as large‐scale survey evidence of this group of migrant workers.

Details

Journal of Management Development, vol. 31 no. 2
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/02621711211199458
ISSN: 0262-1711

Keywords

  • Immigration
  • Talent waste
  • Employment
  • Underemployment
  • Ireland

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Article
Publication date: 5 August 2019

The effect of immigration on natives’ task specialisation: the case of Germany

Raquel Sebastian and Magdalena Ulceluse

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of an increase in the relative supply of immigrants on natives’ task reallocation, with a focus on Germany…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of an increase in the relative supply of immigrants on natives’ task reallocation, with a focus on Germany. Specifically, it investigates whether natives, as a response to increased immigration, re-specialise in communication-intensive occupations, where they arguably have a comparative advantage due to language proficiency.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis uses regional data from the German Labour Force Survey between 2002 and 2014. To derive data on job tasks requirements, it employs the US Department of Labor’s O*NET database, the results of which are tested through a sensitivity analysis using the European Working Condition Survey and the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies data sets.

Findings

The paper finds that indeed German workers respond to increasing immigration by shifting their task supply and providing more communication relative to manual tasks. Importantly, the decrease in the supply of communication tasks is stronger and more robust than the increase in the supply of manual tasks, pointing to a potential displacement effect taking place between natives and immigrants, alongside task reallocation. This would suggest that countries with relatively more rigid labour markets are less responsive to immigration shocks. Moreover, it suggests that labour market rigidity can minimise the gains from immigration and exacerbate employment effects.

Originality/value

The paper not only investigates task reallocation as a result of immigration in a different institutional context and labour market functioning, but the results feed into broader policy and scholarly discussions on the effects of immigration, including questions about how the institutional context affects labour market adjustment to immigration, worker occupational mobility in a more rigid labour markets and the fine balance needed between flexibility and rigidity.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 40 no. 5
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-08-2018-0269
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

  • Labour market
  • Immigration
  • Recent immigrants
  • Tasks
  • Low-skilled immigrants
  • Manual skills

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