Migrant workers face 'ethnic penalty' in job
market: U of A researcher
A
researcher at the University of Alberta says that highly skilled
second-generation migrants earn less than the general population, despite being
more likely to have a university degree.
"I call it the ethnic penalty," said Reza Hasmath, an
associate professor in political science who wrote a book on the
subject. "You have a certain education level and you expect
to get a certain type of wage based on that education."
His research found that is not the case for recent migrants, nor
for their children who enter the workforce. In an analysis of Statistics Canada
numbers Hasmath found that, on average, visible ethnic minorities are more
likely to attend university, but tend to earn less.
On average, migrants make 81 cents for every dollar Canadians of
European descent earn. Canadian-born individuals belonging to visible
ethnic minorities on average earn 71 cents on the dollar compared to their
counterparts of European descent.
More;
The world has 41 per cent more migrants now
than in 2000, UN reports
The number of people who migrated to foreign countries surged by
41 per cent in the last 15 years to reach 244 million in 2015, according to a United Nations study released
Tuesday. Of those people, 20 million are refugees. The UN is
planning a series of meeting to address migration in 2016, including a March 30
gathering in Geneva where countries will be invited to pledge resettlement
spots for Syrians fleeing civil war. But while the Syrian refugee crisis has gripped the world’s attention, it is but a
drop in the sea of international migration.
Here are some highlights from the report.
Where are migrants going?
The vast majority go to Europe, home to 76
million international migrants in 2015, or two-thirds of the total. By
individual country, however, the United States had by far the largest portion
of the world’s migrants — 47 million, or a fifth of the total. Germany and
Russia shared the No. 2 spot with about 12 million each, followed by Saudi
Arabia (10 million), Britain (nine million) and the United Arab Emirates (eight
million.) Canada ranks seventh on this measure, with slightly fewer than eight
million migrants.
Refugees Fear Rising
Anti-Muslim Backlash In Europe
After allegations that recent
migrants assaulted young women at
a Swedish music festival -- and that Swedish police covered it up -- Swedish
asylum seekers are sharing fears of a backlash.
Hundreds
of worried Syrian migrants residing in Sweden took to Facebook this week, to
express their concerns over a growing anti-migrants backlash in Europe -- and
worries that the new reports will make things worse.
"After the sexual harassment cases in Germany, the police
re-opened sexual harassment cases from two years ago. It looks like the Syrian
refugee will suffer no matter where he goes," wrote Abdullah Miri, a Syrian living in the Swedish city of
Sundbyberg. "This is another way the media will cause us misery, my Syrian
refugee brothers," he wrote, fearing that reports of the assault would
lead to violence.
"These are so-called refugee youths, specifically from
Afghanistan. Several of the gang were arrested for sexual molestation,"
wrote a police memo after
the 2014 We Are Stockholm festival. No reports of assault or molestation had
been made public until recently. The Swedish Prime Minister apologized for the
attacks and the cover-up on Monday.
Huge
rise in child asylum seekers leaves many councils struggling to cope
Community Care reveals the pressures on local authorities,
with one taking in 650% more asylum-seeking children compared to last year
Numbers
of unaccompanied children being looked after by local authorities nationwide,
excluding Kent, have increased by an average of 55%, a Freedom of Information
request by Community Care has revealed.
But a focus on the numbers only tells part of the story.
Community Care has spoken to several authorities caring for the largest numbers
of unaccompanied children, many of them extremely vulnerable and traumatised.
Frontline social workers have told us of the additional pressures they face,
from lengthy journeys to visit children placed out of their authority to even
moving social workers to other areas to manage these cases.
3,000 new children
As
a call for the UK to take in 3,000 further unaccompanied asylum-seeking children is being seriously considered by
government, Kent remains the focus of efforts to share the pressures more
fairly. Numbers of children entering the port authority’s care rose to 1,046 at
its highest point last year.
Around the country, however, many other areas are also feeling
the strain. Factor in that 42 of the 131 councils responding to the request
said they did not have any unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in their care,
and this leaves a relatively small number of councils looking after a
disproportionate share of this population.
Birmingham experienced the largest percentage increase (650%)
both in terms of the total number of looked after children and numbers entering
care for the first time. However, for both numbers entering care and total
numbers, this represents a rise to 45 from just six unaccompanied children
being looked after, a relatively low figure for the largest local authority in Europe.
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