IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v43y2006i10p1715-1736.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Problem or Opportunity? Asylum Seekers, Refugees, Employment and Social Exclusion in Deprived Urban Areas

Author

Listed:
  • Jenny Phillimore

    (Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of Binmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK, j.a.phillimore@bham.ac.uk)

  • Lisa Goodson

    (Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of Binmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK)

Abstract

The UK has become a leading proponent of European restrictionalism and has focused its efforts on developing policy that excludes asylum seekers from mainstream society. Dispersal policy has focused upon sending asylum seekers to excluded urban areas where there is an excess of available housing. This paper discusses the potential impacts of this approach on the economic prosperity and social cohesion of UK dispersal areas and focuses specifically on new migrants who arrived under the NASS dispersal programme. It demonstrates that, whilst newly arrived asylum seekers and refugees (ASRs) have both skills and qualifications, they are currently experiencing high levels of unemployment and those who are employed are working in low-skilled jobs with earnings far below the average. The paper contends that the high levels of unemployment and underemployment currently experienced by ASRs may serve to exclude them from society in dispersal areas and in so doing exacerbate the general levels of social exclusion in those areas. It is argued that ASRs could offer new opportunities for deprived areas if initiatives were introduced to help them access work commensurate with their skills and qualifications.

Suggested Citation

  • Jenny Phillimore & Lisa Goodson, 2006. "Problem or Opportunity? Asylum Seekers, Refugees, Employment and Social Exclusion in Deprived Urban Areas," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(10), pages 1715-1736, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:43:y:2006:i:10:p:1715-1736
    DOI: 10.1080/00420980600838606
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/00420980600838606
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00420980600838606?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William Julius Wilson, 1998. "When Work Disappears: New Implications for Race and Urban Poverty in the Global Economy," CASE Papers 017, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    2. Anne Power & William Julius Wilson, 2000. "Social Exclusion and the Future of Cities," CASE Papers case35, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    3. A.B. Atkinson & John Hills, 1998. "Exclusion, Employment and Opportunity," CASE Papers 004, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    4. Wilson, William Julius, 1998. "When work disappears: new implications for race and urban poverty in the global economy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 6509, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Stephen Wheatley Price, 2001. "The employment adjustment of male immigrants in England," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 14(1), pages 193-220.
    6. William Julius Wilson, 1998. "When Work Disappears: New Implications for Race and Urban Poverty in the Global Economy," CASE Papers case17, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    7. Wiji Arulampalam & Alison L. Booth, 1998. "Training and Labour Market Flexibility: Is There a Trade-off?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 521-536, December.
    8. Alice Bloch, 2004. "‘Labour Market Participation and Conditions of Employment: A Comparison of Minority Ethnic Groups and Refugees in Britain’," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 9(2), pages 16-34, May.
    9. Martin Evans, 2001. "Welfare to Work and the Organisation of Opportunity: Lessons from Abroad," CASE Reports casereport15, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roger Vincent Patulny & Alan Morris, 2012. "Questioning the Need for Social Mix: The Implications of Friendship Diversity amongst Australian Social Housing Tenants," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(15), pages 3365-3384, November.
    2. Ferreira, Maria & de Grip, Andries & van der Velden, Rolf, 2018. "Does informal learning at work differ between temporary and permanent workers? Evidence from 20 OECD countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 18-40.
    3. Ferreira Sequeda, M.T. & de Grip, A. & van der Velden, R.K.W., 2015. "Does on-the-job informal learning in OECD countries differ by contract duration," Research Memorandum 021, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    4. Madhubalan Viswanathan & Robert Alfonso Arias & Arun Sreekumar, 2021. "Extreme exclusion and relative deprivation in subsistence marketplaces: A study in a refugee settlement in Nakivale, Uganda," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 87-117, March.
    5. Alan Felstead & Francis Green & Ken Mayhew, 1999. "Britain's Training Statistics: A Cautionary Tale," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 13(1), pages 107-115, March.
    6. Tania Burchardt & Julian Le Grand, 2002. "Constraint and Opportunity: Identifying Voluntary Non-Employment," CASE Papers case55, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    7. Normann Rion, 2019. "Waiting for the Prince Charming: Fixed-Term Contracts as Stopgaps," PSE Working Papers halshs-02331887, HAL.
    8. Maite Blázquez Cuesta & Santiago Budría, 2014. "Deprivation and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Panel Data," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(4), pages 655-682, December.
    9. Frank Crowley & Jane Bourke, 2017. "The Influence Of Human Resource Management Systems On Innovation: Evidence From Irish Manufacturing And Service Firms," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(01), pages 1-28, January.
    10. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht & Vogel, Thorsten, 2010. "Employment, wages, and the economic cycle: Differences between immigrants and natives," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 1-17, January.
    11. Matteo Picchio & Stefano Staffolani, 2019. "Does apprenticeship improve job opportunities? A regression discontinuity approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 23-60, January.
    12. Tindara Addabbo & Rosa García-Fernández & Carmen Llorca-Rodríguez & Anna Maccagnan, 2013. "The effect of the crisis on material deprivation in Italy and Spain," Department of Economics (DEMB) 0019, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Department of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    13. Frank A Cowell & Christian Schluter, 1998. "Measuring Income Mobility with Dirty Data (published in Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22(3), May 1999)," CASE Papers 016, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    14. Sengupta, Arjun, 2010. "Extreme Poverty and Human Rights: A Case Study of the United States of America," Bangladesh Development Studies, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), vol. 33(1-2), pages 275-310, March-Jun.
    15. Maite Blázquez Cuesta & Elena Cottini & Herrarte, A. (Ainhoa), 2012. "GINI DP 39: Socioeconomic Gradient in Health: How Important is Material Deprivation?," GINI Discussion Papers 39, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
    16. David Black & Cain Polidano & Yi-Ping Tseng, 2012. "The Re-engagement in Education of Early School Leavers," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 31(2), pages 202-215, June.
    17. Peter Burton & Shelley Phipps, 2008. "The Prince and the Pauper: Movement of Children Up and Down the Canadian Income Distribution, 1994-2004," Working Papers daleconwp2008-03, Dalhousie University, Department of Economics.
    18. Luca NUNZIATA & Stefano STAFFOLANI, 2001. "On Short-term Contracts Regulations," Working Papers 150, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    19. Julia Rouse & Dilani Jayawarna, 2011. "Structures of Exclusion from Enterprise Finance," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 29(4), pages 659-676, August.
    20. Darmody, Merike & Smyth, Emer, 2018. "The goals and governance of the social inclusion and community activation programme (SICAP) 2015-2017: a mixed methods study," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS68.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:43:y:2006:i:10:p:1715-1736. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.