Ethnic concentration, disadvantage and employment in Sydney and Melbourne

While various scholars have linked ethnic segregation and socioeconomic disadvantage with negative labour market outcomes, a prosperous ethnic economy can facilitate job opportunities according to the enclave hypothesis. Furthermore, immigrants across many countries have higher rates of unemployment, and those with jobs are more likely to have qualifications in excess of job requirements, compared with the native-born. In this context, it is important to examine whether first and later generation immigrant groups who live in ethnic concentrations in disadvantaged neighbourhoods are doubly disadvantaged in the labour market. This seminar will discuss the results of a study which seeks to disentangle the effects of immigrant status, ethnic segregation and socioeconomic disadvantage on labour market outcomes and over qualification in Australia’s two largest immigrant cities, Sydney and Melbourne. Ten ancestry groups are examined as at the 2011 Census, using multivariate statistical techniques to control for the effects of demographic factors and human capital.