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The roles of human capital and social capital in the economic integration of new arrivals from Mainland China to Hong Kong
Habitat International 33 (2009) 340–346
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The roles of human capital and social capital in the economic integration of new arrivals from Mainland China to Hong Kong Kee-Lee Chou*, Nelson W.S. Chow Department of Social Work & Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
a b s t r a c t Keywords: New immigrants China Economic integration Human capital Social capital
Although it has been hypothesized in the literature that both human capital and social capital are important for the economic performance of new immigrants, few studies have examined these relationships empirically, especially in understudied populations such as Chinese populations. This study simultaneously examines the roles of human capital and social capital in the economic integration of new arrivals from Mainland China to Hong Kong, using a random sample of immigrants. In the early stage of immigration (less than 6 months after arrival), we find little support for the presumed positive effects of both human capital and social capital on employment status among new arrivals in Hong Kong. Follow-up studies are underway to investigate the dynamic relationship between social capital and economic integration in this group of new arrivals, and whether social capital, especially friendship networks, plays a more important role in the economic integration of new immigrants 1 or 2 years after arrival. Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction Over the past two decades, from 1985 to 2004, a total of 807,431 new immigrants from Mainland China admitted under the One Way Permit (OWP) scheme have contributed to 54.9% of Hong Kong’s population growth and is equivalent to approximately 11.7% of the total population of 6.92 million in 2004. The 2006 Population By-census revealed that 217,103 new immigrants who had resided in Hong Kong for less than 7 years accounted for 3.2% of the total population (Census and Statistics Department, 2007). Sixty percent (90 out of 150) of the daily quota is designated for family unification (60 for children and 30 for spouses). Not surprisingly, therefore, these new immigrants are either children (about 30%) or wives (about 27%) of Hong Kong residents. As the current policy allows some 55,000 (150 365) Mainland residents to migrate to Hong Kong annually under the OWP scheme coupled with more than 10,000 known cross-boundary marriages every year as well as low fertility rate, it is likely that the scheme will continue to form the single most important source of population inflow, and shape Hong Kong’s demographic growth and composition in the foreseeable future. Therefore, an examination of the means to facilitate the economic integration of these new immigrants in Hong Kong is pivotal to engender a social environment that promotes harmony
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ852 22 41 5940; fax: þ852 28 58 7604. E-mail address: [email protected] (K.-L. Chou). 0197-3975/$ – see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2008.08.001
within the community, thus ensuring the continuation of prosperity and sustainable economic development. What do we know about how these new immigrants economically integrate into Hong Kong society? Previous local studies on new arrivals from the Mainland focused on their psychological well-being and service needs (Census and Statistics Department, 2004; Lam & Chan, 2004; Tam & Lam, 2005; Wong et al., 2004); therefore, the policy questions mentioned above have not been addressed. It is often said that new arrivals today find it more difficult to economically integrate than those coming to Hong Kong in the 1960s or 1970s. For those who are able to find a job, most of them are engaging in low paid and unskilled jobs (Census and Statistics Department, 2000; Lam & Liu, 1998; Siu, 1999). The reason for this is that deindustrialization in Hong Kong in the past two decades has made low-skilled jobs hard to come by (Chiu, Choi, & Ting, 2005). The objective of the present study is to examine the roles of human capital and social capital in the economic integration of new immigrants from the Mainland. It has been well established in the literature that many immigrants in western countries are at a disadvantage in the labor market (Borjas, 1994; Chiswick, 1978; Portes & Rumbaut, 1996). Immigrants have more difficulties finding a job, they have longer periods of unemployment, and, if they are employed, they often have lower occupational status and lower earnings compared to local people (e.g. Alba & Nee, 1999; Borjas, 1994). Becker (1964) has proposed that human capital (such as education and work experience) that immigrants bring to or acquire in the host country
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substantially determine their economic integration and social mobility there. Immigrants who move at a young age, and so have settled for a longer period, attaining a higher level of education, more local work experience, and a better command of the local language, often perform better economically (Chiswick & Miller, 2002; Remennick, 2004). Furthermore, human capital can be categorized as either observable or unobservable (Borjas, 1987; Chiswick, 1978, 1979). Observable human capital includes education level or work experience, while unobservable human capital includes ability, motivation, and talent. In this study, we examine how these observable indicators of human capital, namely education and work experience, contribute to the economic integration of new arrivals in Hong Kong. Another prevailing assumption of much of the research on immigrant adaptation is that social capital is a vital resource enabling immigrants to find their economic niches in the host society. Social capital is created through one’s relationships with other people (Coleman, 1988; Putnam, 2000) and it facilitates an individual’s ability to make use of relationships with other people to improve economic well-being (Portes, 1995). It is a resource that membership in a group provides (Bourdieu, 1986; Portes, 1998), but it is limited by the resources that a network can provide as not all networks have equal resources (Bourdieu, 1986; Putnam, 2000). In the realm of employment, social capital has been linked with business startup, earnings, employment and formal labor market participation, and job tenure (Donato, Durand, & Massey, 1992; Mier & Giloth, 1986; Valenzuela & Gonzalez, 2000). Job seekers who do not utilize their personal network may miss job opportunities only available from such networks (Hagan, 1994; Uzzi, 1999). It has been found that the use of social capital, including familial social networks and friendship networks, among immigrants is positively related to labor force participation (Aguilera, 2002; Caspi et al., 1998), hours worked (Donato et al., 1992), as well as job tenure (Aguilera, 2003). Moreover, migrants with a larger social network are more likely to have a better paid job than those with a smaller network (Munshi, 2003; Sanders, Lee, & Sernau, 2002). It is because when the social network is larger, the network may not only be consisted of ‘‘strong ties’’ defined as ties to close family members or close friends (Portes, 1998), but also will include ‘‘weak ties’’ defined as relationship to relatives or causal friends (Granovetter, 1973, 1995). Granovetter (1995) argues that the compared with strong ties, weak ties exert less influence but are more likely to provide valuable information related to employment due to its diversity (Erickson, 2001) and high quality i.e. network members with high social status (Aguilera, 2002) while strongly tied members who are generally more similar to the individual are more likely to provide redundant information (Granovetter, 1995). The distinction between strong ties and weak ties is parallel to the differences between bonding and bridging social capital (Putnam, 2000). Bonding capital provides social and psychological support for those inside the homogeneous group through its expectations for reciprocity and solidarity while bonding capital connects people to diverse and heterogeneous social groups that exist outside of their immediate circle so as to acquire new financial or human capital (Putnam, 2000). Using qualitative studies, Wong (2007) underscores the everyday co-operation between individuals in social networks, called unseen social capital, in the community participation of new immigrants in Hong Kong. In a descriptive study, it was found that 41% of new immigrants in Hong Kong searched for job through their family members while only about 3% did it through government’s agency (Chan & Leung, 1999). Social capital is associated with obtaining job in China urban cities among migrated workers (Bian, 1997) and among Chinese migrants in United States (Zhou, 1992). In this paper, we look at both human capital and social capital to study new arrivals’ employment and job tenure in Hong
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Kong. We contribute to the existing literature on the economic integration of immigrants by studying the role of human capital and social capital simultaneously. We, thereby, follow suggestions in the more general literature on social capital (Coleman, 1990; Lin, 1999), and unite research in the field of migration that has examined either the role of human capital (Bratsberg & Ragan, 2002; Friedberg, 2000; Zeng & Xie, 2004), or the role of social capital (Aguilera & Massey, 2003; Mouw, 2002). Methodology Sampling and participants Our target respondents in this study were new immigrants aged between 18 and 59 years. To be eligible for this study, respondents must (1) have come from the Mainland on an OWP to reside ordinarily in Hong Kong and (2) have resided in Hong Kong for at least 3 months but less than 1 year. Each new arrival has to apply for a Hong Kong Identity Card at the Registration of Persons–Kowloon Office within 30 days of arrival. In November 2006, our interviewers approached each potential respondent and asked them to participate in the current survey once they were found to be eligible to take part in the present study. At this time, we successfully recruited 613 potential respondents at that office, but only 569 of them were found to be eligible respondents because some of them were too young. Among these 569 eligible respondents, 501 agreed to participate in our study. Because almost all new arrivals apply for their identity card at the Registration of Persons Office in the first week after their arrival in Hong Kong, and one of the inclusion criteria for our respondents was that they must have resided in Hong Kong for at least 3 months, we contacted these potential respondents 4 months later and arranged face-to-face interviews with them. During the period between March 1, 2007 and April 30, 2007, we successfully interviewed 449 respondents out of these 569 eligible respondents, yielding a response rate of 78.9%. In this study, we focused on those who were economically active (i.e. either they were employed or were actively seeking for jobs) and also excluded those whose families were on welfare. Thus, we focused on 197 respondents in the current study. Dependent variables Employment status was our major indicator of economic integration, and we divided it into three levels: 0 ¼ unemployed, 1 ¼ part-time employment, and 2 ¼ full-time employment. Using this variable, we constructed two dichotomous dependent variables of labor force status. First, we examined employment status, considering the odds of an immigrants being either employed (fulltime or part-time) or unemployed. Subsequently, we selected the employed population and used that subsample to examine the degree of involvement in employment and the odds of an immigrants being full-time employed or part-time employed. Human capital. Measures of education and work experience were used to assess human capital skills and credentials. Education was measured according to three levels: no formal education to junior high school, senior high school, and university. Length of work experience on the Mainland was also measured according to three levels: no work experience, 1–10 years, and more than 10 years. Social capital. With regard to social capital, the size of the respondent’s social network, network quality, tangible support received, and the quality of social support were assessed. The number of co-residing family members, family members living apart, friends and friends who were born in Hong Kong were assessed to assess the size of the social network. In assessing network quality, friends or family members who were professionals, community leaders, employers, or business persons were assumed to possess more valuable information than
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those who were not. On the other hand, the number of friends and family members on welfare was also measured. Besides the size and quality of the social network, we also measured tangible and intangible support received from family members or friends. Types of assistance included emotional support, economic support, the giving of advice for important decision making, job hunting, job introductions, the provision of information related to employment, and teaching English. The quality of social support from family and friends was assessed by the Chinese version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Chou, 2000; Zimet et al., 1988). Respondents were asked to rate 12 items on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ¼ very strongly disagree to 7 ¼ very strongly agree. The total score for the scale was calculated as the sum of the 12 items, with a higher score indicating stronger perceived social support. Social capital was also measured in terms of two aspects of collective efficacy (Simpson, Raudenbush, & Earls, 1997). The first aspect was informal control, which was measured using five items. The respondents were asked about the likelihood (‘‘Would you say it is very likely, likely, neither likely nor unlikely, unlikely, or very unlikely ?’’) that their neighbors could be counted on to intervene in various ways if: (1) children were skipping school and hanging out on a street corner; (2) children were spray-painting graffiti on a local building; (3) children were showing disrespect to an adult; (4) a fight broke out in front of their house; (5) the fire station closest to their home was threatened with budget cuts. The second aspect was social cohesion and trust, which was also measured by five items. The respondents were asked how strongly they agreed that ‘‘people around here are willing to help their neighbors,’’ that ‘‘this is a close-knit neighborhood,’’ that ‘‘people in this neighborhood generally don’t get along with each other,’’ and that ‘‘people in this neighborhood do not share the same values.’’ All five items were rated on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 ¼ strongly agree to 5 ¼ strongly disagree. The five scales were summed, with higher scores indicating a higher level of social cohesion and trust. To assess the preparation before migration, we asked eight questions that tapped the central components of this factor (Ryan et al., 2006). We asked whether the respondents had: (1) discussed their migration with family members in Hong Kong; (2) obtained family agreement with their decision; (3) pre-arranged employment in Hong Kong; (4) considered their length of stay; (5) a network of friends or family available upon arrival; (6) prearranged accommodation; and (7) prepared to any extent for their migration. Preparation for migration was calculated as the sum of positive answers to the seven questions, and the resulting total score ranged from 0 to 7. Socio-demographic control variables included gender, age, marital status, and number of co-resided children. One dummy variable was created for gender (0 ¼ male; 1 ¼ female), while age was measured according to three age groups: 16–29, 30–39, and 40 and older. One dummy variable was used to represent marital status by contrasting married with single and divorced/separated. Analysis The analyses were divided into two parts: one for the whole sample and the other for those who were employed. Descriptive statistics were performed on all dependent and independent variables. The data management and regression models were performed and computed with SPSS 15.0 for Windows on a PC. Results Sample characteristics Table 1 includes the frequency (percentage) and mean (standard deviation) of all independent variables for all respondents who
either were in the labor market or actively seeking employment in the month prior to the interview. The frequencies and means for those who were employed and those who were not employed are shown separately. T-tests and chi-square tests were used to test whether there were significant differences in the means or frequencies of those dependent variables by employment status. Of the 197 respondents, 144 (73.1%) were employed and slightly more than half of those employed (54.2%) were full-time workers. Among those who were employed, more than half (56.7%) were either working in restaurants/hotels (37.8%) or warehouses (18.9%). Another 11% worked in personal services, 7% worked on construction sites, and 7% worked in the manufacturing sector. Almost 85% of them were service, sales, or non-technical workers. Even among those who were working full-time, only 2% had a median salary, while 30% of them had only half of the median salary. Only one significant difference was found between those who were employed and those who were not. The number of family members living apart was greater for those who were currently employed than for those who were unemployed (see Table 1). Table 2 illustrates the differences between full-time workers and part-time workers in terms of their demographic characteristics, social capital variables, and social support. Table 2 also shows a gender difference in terms of job tenure. Specifically, women were more likely to engage in part-time jobs than were men. Moreover, tangible and intangible support received from family members and perceived social support were greater for those who were full-time workers than for those who were part-time workers. Discussion In this study, we examined the roles of human capital and social capital in the economic incorporation of new arrivals from the Mainland China to Hong Kong. The main contribution to the literature is that we have examined both human and social capital at the same time and our respondents are a representative sample of recent immigrants who have been in Hong Kong less than 6 months. We made several unexpected findings in our study. First of all, we found that human capital, including education and work experience attained in the Mainland, does not affect immigrants’ labor market participation. The reason for this is simply that, very often, education obtained by immigrants in their country of origin is not recognized in the host country. This is indeed the case in Hong Kong: in particular, university education attained in Mainland China is generally not recognized in Hong Kong and so are their working experiences in the Mainland (Lee, 2004). Consequently, most of our respondents worked in low-end jobs such as sales and non-technical jobs. The results from our analyses do not show that social capital has an influence on employment status among new arrivals from Mainland China to Hong Kong. Specifically, no relationship was found between employment status and both the size of the social network (i.e. co-residing family members or friends) and the quality of the social network. These results are not consistent with previous studies, which show a general positive relationship between friendship social networks and both employment opportunities (Chiswick & Miller, 1996; Fernandex, Castilla, & Moore, 2000) and wages (Aguilera & Massey, 2003; Amuedo-Dorantes & Mundra, 2007). There are two possible explanations for this discrepancy. First, the migrant samples used in the previous studies (Aguilera & Massey, 2003; Amuedo-Dorantes & Mundra, 2007) had been in the host country for a long period of time (e.g. more than 2 years). However, our samples were interviewed when they had been in Hong Kong for only 4 months at the most. It is possible that they had not yet established their social network in Hong Kong, especially a social network of friends, specially friends who are Hong Kong locals and, therefore, more knowledgeable about the
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Table 1 Characteristics of respondents who were employed and those who were not employed. t-test or c2
Frequency (%) Not employed (n ¼ 53) Demographics variables Gender Male Female Age Aged 16–29 Aged 30-39 Aged 40–59 Mean (SD) Marital status Single Married Divorced/separated Number of co-residing children 0 1 2 3þ Mean (SD)
9 (17.0%) 44 (83.0%)
18 24 11 33.7
(34.0%) (45.3%) (20.8%) (8.3)
6 (11.3%) 46 (86.8%) 1 (1.9%)
19 28 4 2
(35.8%) (52.8%) (7.5%) (3.8%)
Employed (n ¼ 144)
28 (19.4%) 116 (80.6%)
45 60 393 34.2
NS
(31.2%) (41.7%) (27.1%) (8.2)
NS
14 (9.7%) 125 (86.8%) 5 (3.5%)
NS
48 66 24 6
(33.3%) (45.8%) (16.7%) (4.2%)
NS
Pre-migration preparation
4.9 (0.8)
4.9 (0.9)
NS
Human capital Education None to junior high Senior high University
24 (45.3%) 23 (43.4%) 6 (11.3%)
64 (44.4%) 63 (43.8%) 17 (11.8%)
NS
5 (9.4%) 36 (67.9%) 12 (22.6%)
17 (11.8%) 94 (65.3%) 33 (22.9%)
NS
2.4 2.4 3.1 0.5
(1.3) (3.1) (3.4) (1.4)
2.9 3.7 4.4 0.9
(1.5) (4.6) (5.3) (2.1)
NS * NS NS
Network quality Number of family members on welfare Number of friends on welfare Number of family members with high social status Number of friends with high social status
0.2 0.1 0.2 0.1
(0.6) (0.3) (0.9) (0.5)
0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2
(0.3) (0.1) (0.5) (1.0)
NS
Tangible & intangible support Support from family members Support from friends
4.8 (2.5) 2.8 (2.6)
4.7 (2.8) 2.5 (2.4)
NS
Quality of social support MSPSS
58.0 (17.1)
56.8 (17.3)
NS
Collective efficacy Informal control Social cohesion & trust
16.8 (2.5) 17.4 (2.0)
17.4 (3.1) 17.7 (2.5)
NS
Work experience 0 1–10 years 11 yearsþ Social capital Size of social network Number of co-residing family members Number of family members living apart Number of friends Number of friends who are locals
Note: *p < 0.05; NS ¼ non-significant p > 0.05.
Hong Kong labor market. For instance, only 23.9% of them reported that they had friends who were born in Hong Kong as they predominantly had contact with people who were also new arrivals and so who knew little about the Hong Kong labor market or about job opportunities. We plan to re-interview our respondents 1 year and 2 years after the baseline assessment. By then, the relationship between social capital, especially friendship social networks, and both labor force participation and earnings may be stronger than it was found to be during the current study. The second explanation is that social networks provide gendered labor market outcomes that specifically benefit men to
a greater extent (Greenwell, Valdex, & DaVanzo, 1997; Hagan, 1994; Keith & McWilliams, 1999). Because the majority of our sample are women, the impact of the social network on labor force participation for men was overshadowed by that for women. However, it should be noted that there are mixed findings with regard to gender differences in the impact of social capital on employment status. In contradiction to the early studies (Greenwell et al., 1997; Hagan, 1994; Keith & McWilliams, 1999), more recent studies find that social networks do not provide more advantages for men than for women (Aguilera & Massey, 2003; Smith, 2000). We also reanalyzed our data by focusing on the male participants, but no
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Table 2 Characteristics of respondents who were working full-time and those who were working part-time. t-test or c2
Frequency (%) Part-time employed (n ¼ 66) Demographics variables Gender Male Female Age Aged 16–29 Aged 30–39 Aged 40–59 Mean (SD) Marital status Single Married Divorced/separated Number of co-residing children 0 1 2 3þ Mean (SD) Pre-migration preparation Human Capital Education None to junior high Senior high University
Full-time employed (n ¼ 78)
8 (12.1) 58 (87.9)
20 (25.6) 58 (74.4)
*
21 (31.8) 30 (45.5) 15 (22.7)
24 (30.8) 30 (38.5) 24 (30.8)
NS
8 (12.1) 57 (86.4) 1 (1.5)
6 (7.7) 68 (87.2) 4 (5.1)
NS
19 31 14 2
29 35 10 4
NS
(28.8) (47.0) (21.2) (3.0)
33.6 (8.3)
(37.2) (44.9) (12.8) (5.1)
34.6 (8.1)
NS
30 (45.5) 31 (47.0) 5 (7.6)
34 (43.6) 32 (41.0) 12 (15.4)
NS
8 (12.1) 45 (68.2) 13 (19.7)
9 (11.5) 49 (62.8) 20 (25.6)
NS
4.8 3.2 4.0 0.7
(0.9) (1.6) (5.0) (1.8)
5.0 2.7 4.6 1.1
(0.9) (1.5) (5.5) (2.3)
NS
Network quality Number of family members on welfare Number of friends on welfare Number of family members with high social status Number of friends with high social status
4.0 0.0 0.1 0.3
(4.1) (0.1) (0.3) (1.5)
3.4 0.0 0.1 0.1
(5.0) (0.0) (0.3) (0.4)
NS
Tangible & intangible support Support from family members Support from friends
4.2 (2.7) 2.5 (2.5)
5.1 (2.8) 2.5 (2.3)
* NS
Quality of social support MSPSS
52.6 (17.9)
60.4 (16.0)
**
Collective efficacy Informal control Social cohesion & trust
17.4 (3.1) 17.7 (2.3)
17.3 (3.1) 17.8 (2.6)
NS
Work experience 0 1–10 years 11 yearsþ Social Capital Size of social network Number of co-residing family members Number of family members living apart Number of friends Number of friends who are locals
Note: * p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; NS ¼ non-significant p > 0.05.
association between social capital variables and employment status was found. When we examined the correlation between social capital and employment status of economically active new arrivals, only one significant result was found. Specifically, those who had more noncoresiding family members were more likely to be employed than those who had fewer such family members. This finding is consistent with Granovetter’s (1995) ‘‘strength of weak ties’’ thesis that those who rely on weak ties tend are more likely to obtain job than those who use strong ties. The benefits of weak ties on
employment has consistently been found in Chinese population (Hong & Engestrom, 2004; Lin & Dumin, 1986). However, the importance of ‘‘strong ties’’ in job seeking must not be overlooked given strong evidences linking strong ties and getting a job in Chinese community (Bian, 1997; Bian & Ang, 1997). Another explanation of this finding is the fact that concentrated poverty in many urban neighborhoods may constrain contacts with job opportunities and thus spatial isolation from potentially beneficial informal job contacts is a barrier to employment (Henly, 2000; Wilson, 1996). That’s why family members who are not living in the
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same neighborhood could provide more job opportunities to our new migrants than the family members who are residing with our respondents. Nevertheless, the findings have implication that it is valuable to develop a service model for helping new arrivals, especially women, in Hong Kong expand their job opportunities by using weak ties (Crowell, 1994). Among those who were employed, we found that new arrivals who reported a higher level of support from their family members were more likely to have a full-time job. Similarly, immigrants who had a higher level of satisfaction with the social support they received were more likely to be employed full-time. In other words, the impacts of social support received and perceived social support received on immigrants’ job tenure were more pronounced than the effects of the size and the quality of the social network. This finding suggests that it is important to investigate how social networks or social capital contribute to the economic integration of immigrants in the host society. Therefore, it is important to investigate how new arrivals secured their jobs through informal channels (e.g. family, friends, and acquaintances) or formal channels such as employment agencies, traineeships, and job advertisements in the media. People in the social networks of new arrivals can help in direct and indirect ways (Lin, 1999). They can provide job information directly to the new arrivals or introduce the new arrivals directly to their potential employers. Or they can provide information about employment agencies and how to perform in job interviews (Aguilera & Massey, 2003; FernandezKelly, 1995). Future research is encouraged to study how, why, and under what conditions social capital affects new arrivals’ economic incorporation in Hong Kong. Lastly, we found that women are more likely to engage in part-time work than men, possibly because of difficulties balancing work and child rearing responsibilities. Limitations This study has a number of limitations. First, we recognize that this research is based upon cross-sectional data and that longitudinal data are needed to further understand the causal and temporal relations between social capital and economic integration among new arrivals in Hong Kong. We plan to conduct 1- and 2year follow-up interviews with the respondents in order to tap the dynamics of the relationship between social capital and the integration of new immigrants in Hong Kong. Second, the measurement of social networks was not comprehensive because the frequency of contact and the number of close family members or friends were not assessed. Third, the sample size of the current study was relatively small, but it was a random sample of new arrivals in Hong Kong, thus the power of the statistical analysis was limited. Lastly, the sample was predominantly (80%) female; though this reflects the gender distribution of the age cohort that are economically active among new arrivals. Conclusion In this paper, we used a data set of a random sample of new arrivals to examine the link between social capital and labor force participation in Hong Kong in order to address a variety of hypotheses concerning the effect of social capital on economic integration. To sum up, it seems that in the early stage of immigration, family has a more positive effect on the economic integration of new arrivals than does the network of friends. Our evidence does not support that the size and quality of friendship networks is significantly related to both the employment status and the job tenure of new arrivals. However, it should be noted that the current study is only based on data obtained from the baseline survey of a 2-year longitudinal investigation. The data to be obtained from the longitudinal study will provide more insights into this issue.
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The roles of human capital and social capital in the economic integration of new arrivals from Mainland China to Hong Kong Kee-Lee Chou*, Nelson W.S. Chow Department of Social Work & Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
a b s t r a c t Keywords: New immigrants China Economic integration Human capital Social capital
Although it has been hypothesized in the literature that both human capital and social capital are important for the economic performance of new immigrants, few studies have examined these relationships empirically, especially in understudied populations such as Chinese populations. This study simultaneously examines the roles of human capital and social capital in the economic integration of new arrivals from Mainland China to Hong Kong, using a random sample of immigrants. In the early stage of immigration (less than 6 months after arrival), we find little support for the presumed positive effects of both human capital and social capital on employment status among new arrivals in Hong Kong. Follow-up studies are underway to investigate the dynamic relationship between social capital and economic integration in this group of new arrivals, and whether social capital, especially friendship networks, plays a more important role in the economic integration of new immigrants 1 or 2 years after arrival. Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction Over the past two decades, from 1985 to 2004, a total of 807,431 new immigrants from Mainland China admitted under the One Way Permit (OWP) scheme have contributed to 54.9% of Hong Kong’s population growth and is equivalent to approximately 11.7% of the total population of 6.92 million in 2004. The 2006 Population By-census revealed that 217,103 new immigrants who had resided in Hong Kong for less than 7 years accounted for 3.2% of the total population (Census and Statistics Department, 2007). Sixty percent (90 out of 150) of the daily quota is designated for family unification (60 for children and 30 for spouses). Not surprisingly, therefore, these new immigrants are either children (about 30%) or wives (about 27%) of Hong Kong residents. As the current policy allows some 55,000 (150 365) Mainland residents to migrate to Hong Kong annually under the OWP scheme coupled with more than 10,000 known cross-boundary marriages every year as well as low fertility rate, it is likely that the scheme will continue to form the single most important source of population inflow, and shape Hong Kong’s demographic growth and composition in the foreseeable future. Therefore, an examination of the means to facilitate the economic integration of these new immigrants in Hong Kong is pivotal to engender a social environment that promotes harmony
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ852 22 41 5940; fax: þ852 28 58 7604. E-mail address: [email protected] (K.-L. Chou). 0197-3975/$ – see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2008.08.001
within the community, thus ensuring the continuation of prosperity and sustainable economic development. What do we know about how these new immigrants economically integrate into Hong Kong society? Previous local studies on new arrivals from the Mainland focused on their psychological well-being and service needs (Census and Statistics Department, 2004; Lam & Chan, 2004; Tam & Lam, 2005; Wong et al., 2004); therefore, the policy questions mentioned above have not been addressed. It is often said that new arrivals today find it more difficult to economically integrate than those coming to Hong Kong in the 1960s or 1970s. For those who are able to find a job, most of them are engaging in low paid and unskilled jobs (Census and Statistics Department, 2000; Lam & Liu, 1998; Siu, 1999). The reason for this is that deindustrialization in Hong Kong in the past two decades has made low-skilled jobs hard to come by (Chiu, Choi, & Ting, 2005). The objective of the present study is to examine the roles of human capital and social capital in the economic integration of new immigrants from the Mainland. It has been well established in the literature that many immigrants in western countries are at a disadvantage in the labor market (Borjas, 1994; Chiswick, 1978; Portes & Rumbaut, 1996). Immigrants have more difficulties finding a job, they have longer periods of unemployment, and, if they are employed, they often have lower occupational status and lower earnings compared to local people (e.g. Alba & Nee, 1999; Borjas, 1994). Becker (1964) has proposed that human capital (such as education and work experience) that immigrants bring to or acquire in the host country
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substantially determine their economic integration and social mobility there. Immigrants who move at a young age, and so have settled for a longer period, attaining a higher level of education, more local work experience, and a better command of the local language, often perform better economically (Chiswick & Miller, 2002; Remennick, 2004). Furthermore, human capital can be categorized as either observable or unobservable (Borjas, 1987; Chiswick, 1978, 1979). Observable human capital includes education level or work experience, while unobservable human capital includes ability, motivation, and talent. In this study, we examine how these observable indicators of human capital, namely education and work experience, contribute to the economic integration of new arrivals in Hong Kong. Another prevailing assumption of much of the research on immigrant adaptation is that social capital is a vital resource enabling immigrants to find their economic niches in the host society. Social capital is created through one’s relationships with other people (Coleman, 1988; Putnam, 2000) and it facilitates an individual’s ability to make use of relationships with other people to improve economic well-being (Portes, 1995). It is a resource that membership in a group provides (Bourdieu, 1986; Portes, 1998), but it is limited by the resources that a network can provide as not all networks have equal resources (Bourdieu, 1986; Putnam, 2000). In the realm of employment, social capital has been linked with business startup, earnings, employment and formal labor market participation, and job tenure (Donato, Durand, & Massey, 1992; Mier & Giloth, 1986; Valenzuela & Gonzalez, 2000). Job seekers who do not utilize their personal network may miss job opportunities only available from such networks (Hagan, 1994; Uzzi, 1999). It has been found that the use of social capital, including familial social networks and friendship networks, among immigrants is positively related to labor force participation (Aguilera, 2002; Caspi et al., 1998), hours worked (Donato et al., 1992), as well as job tenure (Aguilera, 2003). Moreover, migrants with a larger social network are more likely to have a better paid job than those with a smaller network (Munshi, 2003; Sanders, Lee, & Sernau, 2002). It is because when the social network is larger, the network may not only be consisted of ‘‘strong ties’’ defined as ties to close family members or close friends (Portes, 1998), but also will include ‘‘weak ties’’ defined as relationship to relatives or causal friends (Granovetter, 1973, 1995). Granovetter (1995) argues that the compared with strong ties, weak ties exert less influence but are more likely to provide valuable information related to employment due to its diversity (Erickson, 2001) and high quality i.e. network members with high social status (Aguilera, 2002) while strongly tied members who are generally more similar to the individual are more likely to provide redundant information (Granovetter, 1995). The distinction between strong ties and weak ties is parallel to the differences between bonding and bridging social capital (Putnam, 2000). Bonding capital provides social and psychological support for those inside the homogeneous group through its expectations for reciprocity and solidarity while bonding capital connects people to diverse and heterogeneous social groups that exist outside of their immediate circle so as to acquire new financial or human capital (Putnam, 2000). Using qualitative studies, Wong (2007) underscores the everyday co-operation between individuals in social networks, called unseen social capital, in the community participation of new immigrants in Hong Kong. In a descriptive study, it was found that 41% of new immigrants in Hong Kong searched for job through their family members while only about 3% did it through government’s agency (Chan & Leung, 1999). Social capital is associated with obtaining job in China urban cities among migrated workers (Bian, 1997) and among Chinese migrants in United States (Zhou, 1992). In this paper, we look at both human capital and social capital to study new arrivals’ employment and job tenure in Hong
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Kong. We contribute to the existing literature on the economic integration of immigrants by studying the role of human capital and social capital simultaneously. We, thereby, follow suggestions in the more general literature on social capital (Coleman, 1990; Lin, 1999), and unite research in the field of migration that has examined either the role of human capital (Bratsberg & Ragan, 2002; Friedberg, 2000; Zeng & Xie, 2004), or the role of social capital (Aguilera & Massey, 2003; Mouw, 2002). Methodology Sampling and participants Our target respondents in this study were new immigrants aged between 18 and 59 years. To be eligible for this study, respondents must (1) have come from the Mainland on an OWP to reside ordinarily in Hong Kong and (2) have resided in Hong Kong for at least 3 months but less than 1 year. Each new arrival has to apply for a Hong Kong Identity Card at the Registration of Persons–Kowloon Office within 30 days of arrival. In November 2006, our interviewers approached each potential respondent and asked them to participate in the current survey once they were found to be eligible to take part in the present study. At this time, we successfully recruited 613 potential respondents at that office, but only 569 of them were found to be eligible respondents because some of them were too young. Among these 569 eligible respondents, 501 agreed to participate in our study. Because almost all new arrivals apply for their identity card at the Registration of Persons Office in the first week after their arrival in Hong Kong, and one of the inclusion criteria for our respondents was that they must have resided in Hong Kong for at least 3 months, we contacted these potential respondents 4 months later and arranged face-to-face interviews with them. During the period between March 1, 2007 and April 30, 2007, we successfully interviewed 449 respondents out of these 569 eligible respondents, yielding a response rate of 78.9%. In this study, we focused on those who were economically active (i.e. either they were employed or were actively seeking for jobs) and also excluded those whose families were on welfare. Thus, we focused on 197 respondents in the current study. Dependent variables Employment status was our major indicator of economic integration, and we divided it into three levels: 0 ¼ unemployed, 1 ¼ part-time employment, and 2 ¼ full-time employment. Using this variable, we constructed two dichotomous dependent variables of labor force status. First, we examined employment status, considering the odds of an immigrants being either employed (fulltime or part-time) or unemployed. Subsequently, we selected the employed population and used that subsample to examine the degree of involvement in employment and the odds of an immigrants being full-time employed or part-time employed. Human capital. Measures of education and work experience were used to assess human capital skills and credentials. Education was measured according to three levels: no formal education to junior high school, senior high school, and university. Length of work experience on the Mainland was also measured according to three levels: no work experience, 1–10 years, and more than 10 years. Social capital. With regard to social capital, the size of the respondent’s social network, network quality, tangible support received, and the quality of social support were assessed. The number of co-residing family members, family members living apart, friends and friends who were born in Hong Kong were assessed to assess the size of the social network. In assessing network quality, friends or family members who were professionals, community leaders, employers, or business persons were assumed to possess more valuable information than
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those who were not. On the other hand, the number of friends and family members on welfare was also measured. Besides the size and quality of the social network, we also measured tangible and intangible support received from family members or friends. Types of assistance included emotional support, economic support, the giving of advice for important decision making, job hunting, job introductions, the provision of information related to employment, and teaching English. The quality of social support from family and friends was assessed by the Chinese version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Chou, 2000; Zimet et al., 1988). Respondents were asked to rate 12 items on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ¼ very strongly disagree to 7 ¼ very strongly agree. The total score for the scale was calculated as the sum of the 12 items, with a higher score indicating stronger perceived social support. Social capital was also measured in terms of two aspects of collective efficacy (Simpson, Raudenbush, & Earls, 1997). The first aspect was informal control, which was measured using five items. The respondents were asked about the likelihood (‘‘Would you say it is very likely, likely, neither likely nor unlikely, unlikely, or very unlikely ?’’) that their neighbors could be counted on to intervene in various ways if: (1) children were skipping school and hanging out on a street corner; (2) children were spray-painting graffiti on a local building; (3) children were showing disrespect to an adult; (4) a fight broke out in front of their house; (5) the fire station closest to their home was threatened with budget cuts. The second aspect was social cohesion and trust, which was also measured by five items. The respondents were asked how strongly they agreed that ‘‘people around here are willing to help their neighbors,’’ that ‘‘this is a close-knit neighborhood,’’ that ‘‘people in this neighborhood generally don’t get along with each other,’’ and that ‘‘people in this neighborhood do not share the same values.’’ All five items were rated on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 ¼ strongly agree to 5 ¼ strongly disagree. The five scales were summed, with higher scores indicating a higher level of social cohesion and trust. To assess the preparation before migration, we asked eight questions that tapped the central components of this factor (Ryan et al., 2006). We asked whether the respondents had: (1) discussed their migration with family members in Hong Kong; (2) obtained family agreement with their decision; (3) pre-arranged employment in Hong Kong; (4) considered their length of stay; (5) a network of friends or family available upon arrival; (6) prearranged accommodation; and (7) prepared to any extent for their migration. Preparation for migration was calculated as the sum of positive answers to the seven questions, and the resulting total score ranged from 0 to 7. Socio-demographic control variables included gender, age, marital status, and number of co-resided children. One dummy variable was created for gender (0 ¼ male; 1 ¼ female), while age was measured according to three age groups: 16–29, 30–39, and 40 and older. One dummy variable was used to represent marital status by contrasting married with single and divorced/separated. Analysis The analyses were divided into two parts: one for the whole sample and the other for those who were employed. Descriptive statistics were performed on all dependent and independent variables. The data management and regression models were performed and computed with SPSS 15.0 for Windows on a PC. Results Sample characteristics Table 1 includes the frequency (percentage) and mean (standard deviation) of all independent variables for all respondents who
either were in the labor market or actively seeking employment in the month prior to the interview. The frequencies and means for those who were employed and those who were not employed are shown separately. T-tests and chi-square tests were used to test whether there were significant differences in the means or frequencies of those dependent variables by employment status. Of the 197 respondents, 144 (73.1%) were employed and slightly more than half of those employed (54.2%) were full-time workers. Among those who were employed, more than half (56.7%) were either working in restaurants/hotels (37.8%) or warehouses (18.9%). Another 11% worked in personal services, 7% worked on construction sites, and 7% worked in the manufacturing sector. Almost 85% of them were service, sales, or non-technical workers. Even among those who were working full-time, only 2% had a median salary, while 30% of them had only half of the median salary. Only one significant difference was found between those who were employed and those who were not. The number of family members living apart was greater for those who were currently employed than for those who were unemployed (see Table 1). Table 2 illustrates the differences between full-time workers and part-time workers in terms of their demographic characteristics, social capital variables, and social support. Table 2 also shows a gender difference in terms of job tenure. Specifically, women were more likely to engage in part-time jobs than were men. Moreover, tangible and intangible support received from family members and perceived social support were greater for those who were full-time workers than for those who were part-time workers. Discussion In this study, we examined the roles of human capital and social capital in the economic incorporation of new arrivals from the Mainland China to Hong Kong. The main contribution to the literature is that we have examined both human and social capital at the same time and our respondents are a representative sample of recent immigrants who have been in Hong Kong less than 6 months. We made several unexpected findings in our study. First of all, we found that human capital, including education and work experience attained in the Mainland, does not affect immigrants’ labor market participation. The reason for this is simply that, very often, education obtained by immigrants in their country of origin is not recognized in the host country. This is indeed the case in Hong Kong: in particular, university education attained in Mainland China is generally not recognized in Hong Kong and so are their working experiences in the Mainland (Lee, 2004). Consequently, most of our respondents worked in low-end jobs such as sales and non-technical jobs. The results from our analyses do not show that social capital has an influence on employment status among new arrivals from Mainland China to Hong Kong. Specifically, no relationship was found between employment status and both the size of the social network (i.e. co-residing family members or friends) and the quality of the social network. These results are not consistent with previous studies, which show a general positive relationship between friendship social networks and both employment opportunities (Chiswick & Miller, 1996; Fernandex, Castilla, & Moore, 2000) and wages (Aguilera & Massey, 2003; Amuedo-Dorantes & Mundra, 2007). There are two possible explanations for this discrepancy. First, the migrant samples used in the previous studies (Aguilera & Massey, 2003; Amuedo-Dorantes & Mundra, 2007) had been in the host country for a long period of time (e.g. more than 2 years). However, our samples were interviewed when they had been in Hong Kong for only 4 months at the most. It is possible that they had not yet established their social network in Hong Kong, especially a social network of friends, specially friends who are Hong Kong locals and, therefore, more knowledgeable about the
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Table 1 Characteristics of respondents who were employed and those who were not employed. t-test or c2
Frequency (%) Not employed (n ¼ 53) Demographics variables Gender Male Female Age Aged 16–29 Aged 30-39 Aged 40–59 Mean (SD) Marital status Single Married Divorced/separated Number of co-residing children 0 1 2 3þ Mean (SD)
9 (17.0%) 44 (83.0%)
18 24 11 33.7
(34.0%) (45.3%) (20.8%) (8.3)
6 (11.3%) 46 (86.8%) 1 (1.9%)
19 28 4 2
(35.8%) (52.8%) (7.5%) (3.8%)
Employed (n ¼ 144)
28 (19.4%) 116 (80.6%)
45 60 393 34.2
NS
(31.2%) (41.7%) (27.1%) (8.2)
NS
14 (9.7%) 125 (86.8%) 5 (3.5%)
NS
48 66 24 6
(33.3%) (45.8%) (16.7%) (4.2%)
NS
Pre-migration preparation
4.9 (0.8)
4.9 (0.9)
NS
Human capital Education None to junior high Senior high University
24 (45.3%) 23 (43.4%) 6 (11.3%)
64 (44.4%) 63 (43.8%) 17 (11.8%)
NS
5 (9.4%) 36 (67.9%) 12 (22.6%)
17 (11.8%) 94 (65.3%) 33 (22.9%)
NS
2.4 2.4 3.1 0.5
(1.3) (3.1) (3.4) (1.4)
2.9 3.7 4.4 0.9
(1.5) (4.6) (5.3) (2.1)
NS * NS NS
Network quality Number of family members on welfare Number of friends on welfare Number of family members with high social status Number of friends with high social status
0.2 0.1 0.2 0.1
(0.6) (0.3) (0.9) (0.5)
0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2
(0.3) (0.1) (0.5) (1.0)
NS
Tangible & intangible support Support from family members Support from friends
4.8 (2.5) 2.8 (2.6)
4.7 (2.8) 2.5 (2.4)
NS
Quality of social support MSPSS
58.0 (17.1)
56.8 (17.3)
NS
Collective efficacy Informal control Social cohesion & trust
16.8 (2.5) 17.4 (2.0)
17.4 (3.1) 17.7 (2.5)
NS
Work experience 0 1–10 years 11 yearsþ Social capital Size of social network Number of co-residing family members Number of family members living apart Number of friends Number of friends who are locals
Note: *p < 0.05; NS ¼ non-significant p > 0.05.
Hong Kong labor market. For instance, only 23.9% of them reported that they had friends who were born in Hong Kong as they predominantly had contact with people who were also new arrivals and so who knew little about the Hong Kong labor market or about job opportunities. We plan to re-interview our respondents 1 year and 2 years after the baseline assessment. By then, the relationship between social capital, especially friendship social networks, and both labor force participation and earnings may be stronger than it was found to be during the current study. The second explanation is that social networks provide gendered labor market outcomes that specifically benefit men to
a greater extent (Greenwell, Valdex, & DaVanzo, 1997; Hagan, 1994; Keith & McWilliams, 1999). Because the majority of our sample are women, the impact of the social network on labor force participation for men was overshadowed by that for women. However, it should be noted that there are mixed findings with regard to gender differences in the impact of social capital on employment status. In contradiction to the early studies (Greenwell et al., 1997; Hagan, 1994; Keith & McWilliams, 1999), more recent studies find that social networks do not provide more advantages for men than for women (Aguilera & Massey, 2003; Smith, 2000). We also reanalyzed our data by focusing on the male participants, but no
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Table 2 Characteristics of respondents who were working full-time and those who were working part-time. t-test or c2
Frequency (%) Part-time employed (n ¼ 66) Demographics variables Gender Male Female Age Aged 16–29 Aged 30–39 Aged 40–59 Mean (SD) Marital status Single Married Divorced/separated Number of co-residing children 0 1 2 3þ Mean (SD) Pre-migration preparation Human Capital Education None to junior high Senior high University
Full-time employed (n ¼ 78)
8 (12.1) 58 (87.9)
20 (25.6) 58 (74.4)
*
21 (31.8) 30 (45.5) 15 (22.7)
24 (30.8) 30 (38.5) 24 (30.8)
NS
8 (12.1) 57 (86.4) 1 (1.5)
6 (7.7) 68 (87.2) 4 (5.1)
NS
19 31 14 2
29 35 10 4
NS
(28.8) (47.0) (21.2) (3.0)
33.6 (8.3)
(37.2) (44.9) (12.8) (5.1)
34.6 (8.1)
NS
30 (45.5) 31 (47.0) 5 (7.6)
34 (43.6) 32 (41.0) 12 (15.4)
NS
8 (12.1) 45 (68.2) 13 (19.7)
9 (11.5) 49 (62.8) 20 (25.6)
NS
4.8 3.2 4.0 0.7
(0.9) (1.6) (5.0) (1.8)
5.0 2.7 4.6 1.1
(0.9) (1.5) (5.5) (2.3)
NS
Network quality Number of family members on welfare Number of friends on welfare Number of family members with high social status Number of friends with high social status
4.0 0.0 0.1 0.3
(4.1) (0.1) (0.3) (1.5)
3.4 0.0 0.1 0.1
(5.0) (0.0) (0.3) (0.4)
NS
Tangible & intangible support Support from family members Support from friends
4.2 (2.7) 2.5 (2.5)
5.1 (2.8) 2.5 (2.3)
* NS
Quality of social support MSPSS
52.6 (17.9)
60.4 (16.0)
**
Collective efficacy Informal control Social cohesion & trust
17.4 (3.1) 17.7 (2.3)
17.3 (3.1) 17.8 (2.6)
NS
Work experience 0 1–10 years 11 yearsþ Social Capital Size of social network Number of co-residing family members Number of family members living apart Number of friends Number of friends who are locals
Note: * p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; NS ¼ non-significant p > 0.05.
association between social capital variables and employment status was found. When we examined the correlation between social capital and employment status of economically active new arrivals, only one significant result was found. Specifically, those who had more noncoresiding family members were more likely to be employed than those who had fewer such family members. This finding is consistent with Granovetter’s (1995) ‘‘strength of weak ties’’ thesis that those who rely on weak ties tend are more likely to obtain job than those who use strong ties. The benefits of weak ties on
employment has consistently been found in Chinese population (Hong & Engestrom, 2004; Lin & Dumin, 1986). However, the importance of ‘‘strong ties’’ in job seeking must not be overlooked given strong evidences linking strong ties and getting a job in Chinese community (Bian, 1997; Bian & Ang, 1997). Another explanation of this finding is the fact that concentrated poverty in many urban neighborhoods may constrain contacts with job opportunities and thus spatial isolation from potentially beneficial informal job contacts is a barrier to employment (Henly, 2000; Wilson, 1996). That’s why family members who are not living in the
K.-L. Chou, N.W.S. Chow / Habitat International 33 (2009) 340–346
same neighborhood could provide more job opportunities to our new migrants than the family members who are residing with our respondents. Nevertheless, the findings have implication that it is valuable to develop a service model for helping new arrivals, especially women, in Hong Kong expand their job opportunities by using weak ties (Crowell, 1994). Among those who were employed, we found that new arrivals who reported a higher level of support from their family members were more likely to have a full-time job. Similarly, immigrants who had a higher level of satisfaction with the social support they received were more likely to be employed full-time. In other words, the impacts of social support received and perceived social support received on immigrants’ job tenure were more pronounced than the effects of the size and the quality of the social network. This finding suggests that it is important to investigate how social networks or social capital contribute to the economic integration of immigrants in the host society. Therefore, it is important to investigate how new arrivals secured their jobs through informal channels (e.g. family, friends, and acquaintances) or formal channels such as employment agencies, traineeships, and job advertisements in the media. People in the social networks of new arrivals can help in direct and indirect ways (Lin, 1999). They can provide job information directly to the new arrivals or introduce the new arrivals directly to their potential employers. Or they can provide information about employment agencies and how to perform in job interviews (Aguilera & Massey, 2003; FernandezKelly, 1995). Future research is encouraged to study how, why, and under what conditions social capital affects new arrivals’ economic incorporation in Hong Kong. Lastly, we found that women are more likely to engage in part-time work than men, possibly because of difficulties balancing work and child rearing responsibilities. Limitations This study has a number of limitations. First, we recognize that this research is based upon cross-sectional data and that longitudinal data are needed to further understand the causal and temporal relations between social capital and economic integration among new arrivals in Hong Kong. We plan to conduct 1- and 2year follow-up interviews with the respondents in order to tap the dynamics of the relationship between social capital and the integration of new immigrants in Hong Kong. Second, the measurement of social networks was not comprehensive because the frequency of contact and the number of close family members or friends were not assessed. Third, the sample size of the current study was relatively small, but it was a random sample of new arrivals in Hong Kong, thus the power of the statistical analysis was limited. Lastly, the sample was predominantly (80%) female; though this reflects the gender distribution of the age cohort that are economically active among new arrivals. Conclusion In this paper, we used a data set of a random sample of new arrivals to examine the link between social capital and labor force participation in Hong Kong in order to address a variety of hypotheses concerning the effect of social capital on economic integration. To sum up, it seems that in the early stage of immigration, family has a more positive effect on the economic integration of new arrivals than does the network of friends. Our evidence does not support that the size and quality of friendship networks is significantly related to both the employment status and the job tenure of new arrivals. However, it should be noted that the current study is only based on data obtained from the baseline survey of a 2-year longitudinal investigation. The data to be obtained from the longitudinal study will provide more insights into this issue.
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