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