Charlotte Setijadi, George Major & Agnes Terraschke
Joining the Australian workforce is often perceived as a quick way for recent migrants to improve language skills and integrate into the wider community. However, it can be very difficult for newly-arrived migrants to find work in their desired field for a variety of reasons. This presentation reports on migrants’ experiences with finding employment, based on a detailed thematic and case study analysis of interviews with a group of recent migrants who attended English classes at the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP). The data was collected as part of the AMEP Longitudinal Study, a qualitative longitudinal research project funded by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, which was designed to gain a greater understanding of the relationship between language learning and settlement among migrants. From the interviews it emerged that finding suitable employment in Australia constitutes a very important aspect of the settlement process, both for financial and self-fulfilment reasons. Nevertheless, many migrants face being underemployed, or have difficulty ‘fitting in’ to Australian workplace cultures.