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Employment in a “Land of Opportunity?” Immigrants’ Experiences of Racism and Discrimination in the Australian Workplace

Author

Listed:
  • Agnieszka Kosny

    (University of Toronto
    Monash University
    Institute for Work & Health)

  • Iracema Santos

    (University of Western Australia)

  • Alison Reid

    (Curtin University)

Abstract

Immigrants are an important part of the Australian labor force and constitute a major source of net labor force growth. Immigrants arriving in Australia, however, face a number of barriers finding employment that is commensurate with their training and education (Reid, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 36:120-125, 2012) and can end up in poor-quality jobs. Through a series of interviews and focus groups with newcomers, our study examined immigrants’ experience of finding employment and their working conditions in Australia. In this manuscript, we specifically explore how discrimination shaped workers’ experiences and the strategies workers used to overcome and deal with the barriers they encountered. We end with a discussion of how racism and its consequences can impact quality of work and worker health and safety.

Suggested Citation

  • Agnieszka Kosny & Iracema Santos & Alison Reid, 2017. "Employment in a “Land of Opportunity?” Immigrants’ Experiences of Racism and Discrimination in the Australian Workplace," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 483-497, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:18:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s12134-016-0482-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s12134-016-0482-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. P. N. Junankar & Satya Paul & Wahida Yasmeen, 2010. "Are Asian Migrants Discriminated Against In The Labor Market? A Case Study Of Australia," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 55(04), pages 619-646.
    2. Booth, Alison L. & Leigh, Andrew & Varganova, Elena, 2010. "Does Racial and Ethnic Discrimination Vary Across Minority Groups? Evidence from a Field Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 4947, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Loomis, D. & Richardson, D., 1998. "Race and the risk of fatal injury at work," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 88(1), pages 40-44.
    4. Alison L. Booth & Andrew Leigh & Elena Varganova, 2012. "Does Ethnic Discrimination Vary Across Minority Groups? Evidence from a Field Experiment," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 74(4), pages 547-573, August.
    5. M. Loosemore & D. W. Chau, 2002. "Racial discrimination towards Asian operatives in the Australian construction industry," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 91-102.
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    Cited by:

    1. Akshay Vij & Lynette Washington & Sally Weller & Jacob Irving & Ilke Onur, 2024. "Labour Market Preferences of Retrenched Australian Auto Industry Workers for Job Quality and Meaningful Work," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 100(329), pages 209-233, June.
    2. Agnieszka Kosny & Basak Yanar & Momtaz Begum & Dina Al-khooly & Stephanie Premji & Morgan A. Lay & Peter M. Smith, 2020. "Safe Employment Integration of Recent Immigrants and Refugees," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 807-827, September.

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