settlement and integration outcomes
TRANSCRIPT
INTEGRATIONOF IMMIGRANTSPROGRAMME2007 – 2012
Settlement and Integration Outcomes: Some Research
Paul Spoonley and Trudie CainMassey University
Diversity Forum 22 August 2011
Integration of Immigrants Programme 2007-2012
Objective 2 (Paul Spoonley)• What are the experiences of immigrant families and households in relation
to labour market participation and business activity?• What strategies do they adopt in relation to paid/unpaid work,
entrepreneurship, saving behaviour, investment?• How significant/important are ethnic sub-economies/networks/precincts
or transnational linkages?• What is the nature/size of ethnic economic networks/enclaves and what
are the spill-over effects?(Team: P. Spoonley, R. Bedford, E. Ho, R. Peace, T. Cain)
• 2001-2006 Census • Surveys• LisNZ data • Case studies
Employees
Entrepreneurs
Ethnic Precincts
ChineseIndian
KoreansSouth Africans
British
Employers
Networks
Ethnic Entrepreneurs
• Small world and co-ethnic entrepreneurs
– Ethnic embeddedness
– Ethnic-specific social capital
• Ethnic co-financing• Reciprocity
Ethnic Labour Markets
• Clustering of activities / labour (place-bound)
• Ethnic/familial obligations
• Labour market regulation and the treatment of labour
• Flexible/low cost
Employment
• Attitudes of employers towards Chinese • Experiences of Chinese business owners and
job-seekers
Changing Cartographies: Ethnic Precincts
• Visibility of cultural differences
• Branding the city as multicultural
• Authenticity and representation
…increasingly hyphenated forms of demographic mixing… Keith, 2005
Racialization and Public Spaces
The city plays an increasingly significant role in conceptualising these dynamics [cultural contact]. In this sense the multiculturalism of the cities of the twenty-first century is both demographically and politically challenging.
Michael Keith, 2005
Research and Policy Questions
Ethnic Precincts• Are they evidence of
parallel communities that might inhibit social integration?
• Are they evidence of low quality outcomes and poor economic incorporation?
Ethnic Entrepreneurs as Institutional
Actors
Linguistic Landscapes
Surveys of EP Consumers
Ethnic Precincts
Surveys of Business Owners and Employees
Relational Embeddedness (Portes)
Immigrants rely on ethnic networks to establish business operations• Reduce transaction costs• Gain privileged access to certain resources• Less governed by external incentives/practices/regulation
J. Rath, 2007
Chinese in AucklandYear
Birth Place Total
China Hong Kong
Taiwan Malaysia NZ Others*
1986 1,668 561 39 597 5,250 2,433 10,548
1991 4,110 2,850 2,838 3,681 6,306 3,891 23,676
1996 12,054 8,868 7,965 4,596 10,293 5,928 49,704
2001 26,547 8,406 8,562 4,953 13,203 6,459 68,130
2006 53,694 5,280 7,323 6,003 17,682 7,443 97,425
Dominion Rd
Northcote
Meadowlands
Ethnic Precincts
Meadowlands Northcote
Located in ethnically diverse suburbs. Located in ethnically diverse suburbs.
Festivals and activities Festivals and activities
Dominated by Chinese businesses Dominated by Chinese businesses
Dominated by food businesses Dominated by food businesses
Purpose Built Conversion
Greenfields development Pre-existing shopping centre
Meadowlands Ethnic Precinct
Meadowlands Ethnic Precinct70 Retail Businesses Chinese Other
AsianOther
Food 25 7 -
Chains (ASB, Woolworths) 1 - 1
Retail (Two dollar shops, clothing) 8 4 2
Medical (Pharmacy, Traditional Medicine, Dr Surgery, Optician)
1 2 -
Services (travel, insurance, real estate) 13 2 -
Beauty and hair salons 3 1 -
Other - - -
51 (73%) 16 (23%) 3 (4%)
Relational Embeddedness:Chinese Employer Interviews
• Co-ethnic workers– 100% employed at least one Chinese
employee
• Co-ethnic suppliers– 100% had at least one Chinese supplier
• Co-ethnic customers– 90% had Chinese customers
• Chinese– Main language used with workers for
95% of employers
Transnationalism
• International connections– 50% employers travelled internationally– 90% of these went to China
“I need to learn any new dish in China so I can provide it to my customers here as soon as possible. The other reason is that some materials I can only get from China, so sometimes I need to import products”. “My Chinese [ ] company must import [ ] from China then sell [these products] to other Chinese shops in New Zealand. If I lost the business contacts in China my business wouldn’t be able to continue running”.
Functions of Chinese Ethnic Precincts
Chinese Consumers– Frequency (43% daily/weekly)– Food (price/culturally
relevant)– Social contact
Non-Chinese Consumers– Frequency (26% daily/weekly)– Food (price)– Accessibility
Functions
Access Point
Compensate for lack of language/networks
Co-ethnic interaction
Focus point (meeting, shopping, eating)
Unresolved Questions
• Size of Chinese ethnic economy in Auckland• Trajectory of business development: remain co-
ethnic focused?
Character of Multiculturalism• Voluntarism of ethnicity/ethnic
precincts• Geographies of visibility
– Incorporation– Licensed– Excluded– Assimilated
(Kymlicka, Parekh)
• Transnationalism/globalised networks of exchange and allegiance
• Deliberative democracy to negotiate political options/settlement of city (Keith)
Who is a New Zealander?
• What it means to be a New Zealander?
• What it means to be a New Zealander in a culturally diverse society?
INTEGRATIONOF IMMIGRANTSPROGRAMME2007 – 2012