2. They’re Taking our Jobs! Mariel Boat Experiment 1.5 million A8 workers between May 2004 and September 2009; in 2007, roughly half of all immigrants were A8 Virtually no impact on native wages, despite “downgrading” A8 immigrants 60% less likely to get benefits or tax credits than natives, and are 58% less likely to live in social housing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEPh_KlTyII
3. The A8 Employment rates for A8: 95% for men, 80% for women “Frustration” after communist rule; accession provided easier access “Disarmingly positive” stereotype: are ‘keen, young, white people taking whatever work is on offer and going to church every Sunday’ (Kohn, 2007) High unemployment rate at first, but after two years it matches or falls short of that of natives In the 3rd quarter of 2009, unemployment for native workers was 7.8%, 12% for workers from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and just 5% for East European workers
7. Immigration and Networks “Migration is a phenomenon rooted in the decision-making of networks” Immigration is a phenomenon that affects all levels of society, from individual neighborhoods to the global economy Social capital: intangible, inherent in the relationships between the dyads of network members Information of (real or potential) linkages to socioeconomically important others (sources of social control, family support, or benefits) Network members use social capital to create ethnic niches or clusters of jobs and residential spaces of persons who share ethnic identifiers or other common traits
8. Hub and Spoke Networks Spokes: new migrants whom the hub assists Hub: veteran migrant who collects information on how to immigrate and uses it to help newcomers get into the country, find jobs, gain legal status, etc. and manages the network’s social capital Hub-spoke relationship is governed by the network’s culture of reciprocity
11. Number of immigrants in a given location reaches a certain threshold Cost and risks of migration decrease Increased probability of new immigration to that location
12. So What? The more employed contacts an immigrant has, the more likely he/she is to be/become employed Both the quantity and quality of an immigrant’s network have direct results on their economic success Formalizing immigrant networks that usually already exist organically (and increasing their transparency) could be beneficial for everyone Basically…the more thoroughly integrated an immigrant is to their network, the more likely they are to be economically, socially, and psychologically successful
13. People to Thank Sumption, Madeleine, and Somerville Will. "The UK." Equality and Human Rights Commission. (2009): 1-54. Print. Gordon, Ian, Tony Travers, and Christine Whitehead. United Kingdom. London's Place in the UK Economy: 2008-09. London: City of London, 2009. Print. “Do as the Neighbors Do: The Impact of Social Networks on Immigrant Employment,” Fredrik Andersson et al. Institute for the Study of Labor, September 2009. Bashi, Vilna. Survival of the Knitted. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007). Theguardian.co.uk “Social Capital or Social Closure? Immigrant Networks in the Labor Market,” Roger Waldinger. Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, August 1997. Hanson, Gordon Howard. The Economic Logic of Illegal Immigration. (Council on Foreign Relations, 2007).
