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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 I’m just at home and not working”

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Language at work

• Of the participants who were employed at phase 1 (n=32) and phase 2 (n=36):o 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 can’t improve myself. I can’t 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 (n=32) and phase 2 (n=36):o Three participants work mainly in an L1-

speaking environmento 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 (n=32) and phase 2 (n=36):o Three participants work mainly in an L1-

speaking environmento Four participants work in an English-

speaking environment but are able to mainly use their L1 at work

o 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 participants

and 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@mq.edu.au

georgina.major@mq.edu.au

agnes.terraschke@mq.edu.au