Open AccessMigration and Integration: Austrian and California Experiences with Low-Skilled Migrants
Author(s) -
Gudrun Biffl,
Philip Martin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
border crossing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2046-4444
pISSN - 2046-4436
DOI - 10.33182/bc.v8i1.585
Subject(s) - earnings , market integration , government (linguistics) , refugee , demographic economics , labour economics , political science , economic growth , sociology , business , economics , law , linguistics , philosophy , accounting , macroeconomics
This paper examines migrant-integration policies and outcomes in Austria and California, with a special focus on recently arrived low-skilled migrants. Unlike native-born workers, who form a broad diamond shape when arrayed by their level of education to reflect the large share who have completed secondary school but did not earn university degrees, foreign-born workers have more of an hourglass or barbell shape, including some who have more than a first university degree and many who have not completed secondary school. Austria promotes a stepwise approach to the labor market integration of recently arrived refugees, viz, language and skills training before employment, under the theory that investing in people first will raise their long-run earnings. California expects newly arrived migrants to use family and social networks to find jobs and housing to support themselves without government assistance.