The American immigrant worklife adjustment literature over the past few decades has presented the barriers faced by new immigrants. Several scholars have suggested that new immigrants experience difficulty in obtaining employment in their pre-immigration field. Nevertheless, the knowledge of factors contributing to the successful career transition of skilled immigrants remains underresearched. In light of the growing numbers of immigrants with professional credentials, this gap urgently needs to be addressed to prevent skill underutilization. This study's goal was to present a picture of the meaningful experiences of professional immigrants, who were trained in their countries of origin and then relocated to the U.S. and successfully re-entered their professional fields of work. The purpose of this study was to identify the pathways taken by these immigrants and the factors which contributed to their successful career transition. A qualitative methodology was employed and transcripts of in-depth interviews with ten professional immigrants were analyzed using a phenomenological approach to the inquiry. Four themes emerged through data collection and analysis: support network, personality and professional identity, career advancement, and overcoming challenges. The discussion of the findings that includes elaboration on the meaning of what it is to be a successful skilled immigrant is seen through the lens of social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and incorporates construction career theory (CCT). The most significant finding showed that participants exhibited positive perceptions of the barriers on their journey of career transition. The study contributes to SCCT by revealing that a supportive environment comprised of parents, spouses, professional connections, the immigrant community, social media, and culturally sensitive and competent employers strongly contributes to a successful career transition. Also, in light of SCCT, participants' narratives indicated the following cognitive variables: self-efficacy, interests, personal goals, and outcome expectations practiced as needed in navigating the transition process. Furthermore, in relation to CCT, certain personality characteristics, along with adaptability incorporating expectations without entitlement, planning in advance, and furthering educational credentials in the U.S. positively influenced skilled immigrants' career development in the U.S. These findings carry implications for research and the practice of career counseling, psychology counseling, and immigration policies that are also discussed.

The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration finds that the long-term impact of immigration on the wages and employment of native-born workers overall is very small, and that any negative impacts are most likely to be found for prior immigrants or native-born high school dropouts. First-generation immigrants are more costly to governments than are the native-born, but the second generation are among the strongest fiscal and economic contributors in the U.S. This report concludes that immigration has an overall positive impact on long-run economic growth in the U.S. More than 40 million people living in the United States were born in other countries, and almost an equal number have at least one foreign-born parent. Together, the first generation (foreign-born) and second generation (children of the foreign-born) comprise almost one in four Americans. It comes as little surprise, then, that many U.S. residents view immigration as a major policy issue facing the nation. Not only does immigration affect the environment in which everyone lives, learns, and works, but it also interacts with nearly every policy area of concern, from jobs and the economy, education, and health care, to federal, state, and local government budgets. The changing patterns of immigration and the evolving consequences for American society, institutions, and the economy continue to fuel public policy debate that plays out at the national, state, and local levels. The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration assesses the impact of dynamic immigration processes on economic and fiscal outcomes for the United States, a major destination of world population movements. This report will be a fundamental resource for policy makers and law makers at the federal, state, and local levels but extends to the general public, nongovernmental organizations, the business community, educational institutions, and the research community.

Recent reports suggest that immigrants are more likely to hold jobs with worse working conditions than U.S.-born workers, perhaps because immigrants work in jobs that â¿¿natives donâ¿¿t want.â¿¿ Despite this widespread view, earlier studies have not found immigrants to be in riskier jobs than natives. This study combines individual-level data from the 2003â¿¿2005 American Community Survey on work-related injuries and fatalities to take a fresh look at whether foreign-born workers are employed in more dangerous jobs. The results indicate that immigrants are in fact more likely to work in risky jobs than U.S.-born workers, partly due to differences in average characteristics, such as immigrantsâ¿¿ lower English language ability and educational attainment. Illus.

Economics of Immigration provides students with the tools needed to examine the economic impact of immigration and immigration policies over the past century. Students will develop an understanding of why and how people migrate across borders and will learn how to analyze the economic causes and effects of immigration. The main objectives of the book are for students to understand the decision to migrate; to understand the impact of immigration on markets and government budgets; and to understand the consequences of immigration policies in a global context. From the first chapter, students will develop an appreciation of the importance of immigration as a separate academic field within labor economics and international economics. Topics covered include the effect of immigration on labor markets, housing markets, international trade, tax revenues, human capital accumulation, and government fiscal balances. The book also considers the impact of immigration on what firms choose to produce, and even on the ethnic diversity of restaurants and on financial markets, as well as the theory and evidence on immigrants’ economic assimilation. The textbook includes a comparative study of immigration policies in a number of immigrant-receiving and sending countries, beginning with the history of immigration policy in the United States. Finally, the book explores immigration topics that directly affect developing countries, such as remittances, brain drain, human trafficking, and rural-urban internal migration. Readers will also be fully equipped with the tools needed to understand and contribute to policy debates on this controversial topic. This is the first textbook to comprehensively cover the economics of immigration, and it is suitable both for economics students and for students studying migration in other disciplines, such as sociology and politics.

The story of West Indian immigrants to the United States is generally considered to be a great success. Mary Waters, however, tells a very different story. She finds that the values that gain first-generation immigrants initial success--a willingness to work hard, a lack of attention to racism, a desire for education, an incentive to save--are undermined by the realities of life and race relations in the United States. Contrary to long-held beliefs, Waters finds, those who resist Americanization are most likely to succeed economically, especially in the second generation.