Acculturation as a Predictor of Employment: An Australian Study of Refugee Communities

• In Event: Intercultural Research in Cultural Adaptation

Abstract

In 2012-2013, Australia granted over 20,000 humanitarian visas, of which Ethiopia, Burma and Congo were the most frequent countries of origin for offshore humanitarian visa applicants.

This study investigated the relationship of socio demographic factors with refugee employment status, and the role acculturation, acculturative stress, and resilience, played in the employment status of refugees.

Quantitative data was gathered from 169 participants from Ethiopian, Congolese, and Burmese refugee communities. Hierarchical Logistic regression was used to investigate the factors that predicted the employment status.

We found that only length of stay and English proficiency increased the odds of employed status. An increase in acculturation was associated with the odds of being unemployed, while an increase in acculturative stress was positively associated with the odds of being employment. Resilience and demographic variables (age, education, gender, and country of origin) were not associated with employed status in any way.

Authors

• Nigar Khawaja, Queensland U of Technology

• Aparna Hebbani, University of Queensland

• Cindy Gallois, U of Queensland

• Mairead Mackinnon, U of Queensland