Two Steps Back, Three Steps Forward: The Story of South African Migrants Working in Australia

Skilled migration has become a targeted and intentional instrument by a number of countries in an attempt to ensure skill sufficiency and as a driver of continued economic growth and development. Although countries like the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia have been able t...

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Main Authors: Soontiens, Werner, Van Tonder, Chris
Other Authors: Raj Pillai
Format: Conference Paper
Published: ANZAM 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15398
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author Soontiens, Werner
Van Tonder, Chris
author2 Raj Pillai
author_facet Raj Pillai
Soontiens, Werner
Van Tonder, Chris
author_sort Soontiens, Werner
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Skilled migration has become a targeted and intentional instrument by a number of countries in an attempt to ensure skill sufficiency and as a driver of continued economic growth and development. Although countries like the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia have been able to attract significant numbers of skilled migrants through a combination of pull factors, not the least of which government regulations, this has not always translated into the optimal recognition and use of the human capital of the migrants. Since some literature argues a separation between social and economic integration, special attention to the integration of migrants into the workforce is justified. In order to assess the integration though it is crucial to understand the demographics, experience and phases that migrants go through when settling in a new work environment. This paper reports the narrative of South African migrants establishing themselves in the Australian workforce. It determines that this group of migrants seems to predominantly experience aspects of integration in the labour force as reported in other literature, confirming the validity of earlier research while providing a picture of individual and specific challenges and experiences.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-153982023-02-02T07:57:38Z Two Steps Back, Three Steps Forward: The Story of South African Migrants Working in Australia Soontiens, Werner Van Tonder, Chris Raj Pillai Mustafa Ozbilgin Bill Harley Charmine Hartel Skilled migration has become a targeted and intentional instrument by a number of countries in an attempt to ensure skill sufficiency and as a driver of continued economic growth and development. Although countries like the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia have been able to attract significant numbers of skilled migrants through a combination of pull factors, not the least of which government regulations, this has not always translated into the optimal recognition and use of the human capital of the migrants. Since some literature argues a separation between social and economic integration, special attention to the integration of migrants into the workforce is justified. In order to assess the integration though it is crucial to understand the demographics, experience and phases that migrants go through when settling in a new work environment. This paper reports the narrative of South African migrants establishing themselves in the Australian workforce. It determines that this group of migrants seems to predominantly experience aspects of integration in the labour force as reported in other literature, confirming the validity of earlier research while providing a picture of individual and specific challenges and experiences. 2012 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15398 ANZAM fulltext
spellingShingle Soontiens, Werner
Van Tonder, Chris
Two Steps Back, Three Steps Forward: The Story of South African Migrants Working in Australia
title Two Steps Back, Three Steps Forward: The Story of South African Migrants Working in Australia
title_full Two Steps Back, Three Steps Forward: The Story of South African Migrants Working in Australia
title_fullStr Two Steps Back, Three Steps Forward: The Story of South African Migrants Working in Australia
title_full_unstemmed Two Steps Back, Three Steps Forward: The Story of South African Migrants Working in Australia
title_short Two Steps Back, Three Steps Forward: The Story of South African Migrants Working in Australia
title_sort two steps back, three steps forward: the story of south african migrants working in australia
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15398