AMEP Longitudinal Study: Employment, workplace participation, and settlement success among recent migrants

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AMEP Longitudinal Study Employment, workplace
participation, and settlement success among
recent migrants

• Charlotte Setijadi, George Major, Dr Agnes
  Terraschke
• Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University

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Language training and settlement success

• Funded by Department of Immigration and
  Citizenship
• Aims
• Explore language needs of migrants in early
  settlement
• Language use and needs
• How language affects settlement experience
• Role of Adult Migrant English Program
• ? Improve support for migrants

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Language training and settlement success A two
phase study

• Qualitative, longitudinal, multi-site study
• Phase 1 152 migrants over 1 year
• Phase 2
• 60 participants from Phase One (Cohort A)
• 85 new participants at AMEP (Cohort B)
• Locations Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide,
  Launceston, Brisbane, Perth

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Language training and settlement success

• Data
• semi-structured interviews
• classroom observations
• teaching and assessment materials
• out-of-class interactions
• fieldnotes

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This presentation

• Report on longitudinal snapshot of Cohort A data
  from Phase 1 (2009) and Phase 2 (2011)
• Focus on migrants stories on finding work and
  their experiences in the workplace
• General employment trends
• Patterns of under-, and unemployment
• Language use at work
• Workplace socialisation

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Some key employment trends

• An educated cohort 40 out of 60 participants
  have at least 13 years of education
• 36 participants were employed by the start of
  phase 2 of AMEP LTS (end of 2011)
• 7 participants are unemployed and actively
  looking for work
• 12 women are stay-home mothers/housewives

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Longitudinal view of participants employment
Occupation group Pre-migration Phase 1 Phase 2
Managers 6 2 0
Professionals 19 5 7
Technicians Trade Workers 7 1 2
Community Personal Service Workers 3 7 6
Clerical Administrative Workers 6 2 2
Sales Workers 2 5 6
Machinery Operators Drivers 0 0 1
Labourers 4 11 11
Housewives 4 9 12
Students 9 4 4
Unemployed 0 12 7
Retired 0 2 2
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Longitudinal view of participants employment
Occupation group Pre-migration Phase 1 Phase 2
Managers 6 2 0
Professionals 19 5 7
Technicians Trade Workers 7 1 2
Community Personal Service Workers 3 7 6
Clerical Administrative Workers 6 2 2
Sales Workers 2 5 6
Machinery Operators Drivers 0 0 1
Labourers 4 11 11
Housewives 4 9 12
Students 9 4 4
Unemployed 0 12 7
Retired 0 2 2
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Longitudinal view of participants employment
Occupation group Pre-migration Phase 1 Phase 2
Managers 6 2 0
Professionals 19 5 7
Technicians Trade Workers 7 1 2
Community Personal Service Workers 3 7 6
Clerical Administrative Workers 6 2 2
Sales Workers 2 5 6
Machinery Operators Drivers 0 0 1
Labourers 4 11 11
Housewives 4 9 12
Students 9 4 4
Unemployed 0 12 7
Retired 0 2 2
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Goals and aspirations

• Employment important marker of settlement success
• Majority would like to be in the same industry as
  the one they were in pre-migration
• Employment viewed as a relatively quick way to
  improve English and integrate into Australian
  society

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Over-qualified and under-employed

• 5 participants explicitly stated that they could
  not get jobs that match their overseas
  qualifications and/or working experiences
• Path to getting overseas qualifications
  recognised seen as too difficult/expensive/time
  consuming

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Unemployed and unable to find work

• 7 participants are unemployed for a number of
  reasons, including
• Not being able to find a job in the industry that
  they desire
• Not having good enough English for work
• Unemployment can make participants feel
  financially vulnerable, unable to contribute to
  society, and unfulfilled
• I cannot find myself when Im just at home and
  not working

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Language at work

• Of the participants who were employed at phase 1
  (n32) and phase 2 (n36)
• Three participants work mainly in an L1-speaking
  environment

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Language at work

• I want to find a job in the Aussie shop Hm
  because I want change You know still in Chinese
  shop I cant improve myself. I cant improve my
  English or that is not for the long time job. So
  I MUST be change
• Lily (Chinese bakery worker)

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Language at work

• Of the participants who were employed at phase 1
  (n32) and phase 2 (n36)
• Three participants work mainly in an L1-speaking
  environment
• Four participants work in an English-speaking
  environment but are able to mainly use their L1
  at work

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Language at work

• My English is very limited now so, I have to
  settle with this job
• Li Ming (cleaner)
• Through an interpreter

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Language at work

• Of the participants who were employed at phase 1
  (n32) and phase 2 (n36)
• Three participants work mainly in an L1-speaking
  environment
• Four participants work in an English-speaking
  environment but are able to mainly use their L1
  at work
• Most participants speak ONLY English at work

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Talking to clients/customers

• More participants in phase 2 (69.44) interact
  with customers daily than in phase 1 (43.75)
• Some have only very minor interactions with
  customers either because of the nature of the
  job or because they are actively discouraged from
  talking with clients

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Talking to clients/customers

• One thing might be my English, yeah. Like, um,
  it might make his shop look unprofessional,
  because - but, yeah, but still, I think many
  reason, but it's one of the reason that, I think
  because the owner doesn't - because I can do
  everything. If I have money, I can open my own.
• Lisa (dog groomer)

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Talking to clients/customers

• More participants in phase 2 (69.44) interact
  with customers daily than in phase 1 (43.75)
• Some have only very minor interactions with
  customers either because of the nature of the
  job or because they are actively discouraged from
  talking with clients
• Others describe positive experiences about
  gaining the confidence to talk with customers

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Talking to clients/customers

• And now I'm giving them whatever they want and
  talking to them, How is your day? Where you
  come from? Do you stay in hotel? How are
  you doing? Have you seen Opera House in
  Sydney? I start to chat and talk with people.
• Kamran (hotel worker)

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Workplace socialisation

• Establishing relationships with colleagues can be
  a very important part of the workplace experience
• Workplace socialisation was explicitly discussed
  by 11 participants in phase 1, and 21
  participants in phase 2
• 3 participants (all in phase 2) mentioned little
  or no opportunity for socialisation
• 8 participants in phase 1 and 13 in phase 2
  describe positive experiences

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Workplace socialisation

• I like abouts when I got the good friend and we
  can talk, we can laugh. I'm proud of myself.
  I'm not a good English but the way I can make a
  joke to make them all laughing and then the way
  they're laughing like before start or break time,
  I feel happy more than them.
• Tat (chicken factory worker)

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Summary

• Finding employment is a crucial milestone for
  migrants gateway to Australian society
• Restricted access to work due to
• English proficiency
• Unrecognised qualifications
• Participants often have to adapt their employment
  aspirations
• Some participants have limited opportunities to
  use English at work and socialise with colleagues

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Summary

• Majority work in English speaking contexts
• By 2011, more participants
• were employed
• had direct contact with customers (using English)
  
• Despite facing a range of issues regarding
  communication in the workplace, many participants
  report having positive experiences with
• a) gaining confidence in talking to customers
• b) socialising with colleagues

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Thanks to all our participantsand to the
research team

• Ingrid Piller
• Lynda Yates
• Donna Butorac
• John Ehrich
• Laura Ficorilli
• Sun Hee Ok Kim
• Loy Lising
• George Major

• Pam McPherson
• Kerry Taylor-Leech
• Charlotte Setijadi
• Agnes Terraschke
• Alan Williams
• Vera Williams Tetteh
• Beth Zielinski

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Email

• charlotte.setijadi_at_mq.edu.au
• georgina.major_at_mq.edu.au
• agnes.terraschke_at_mq.edu.au

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