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Purpose: This study explores employer perspectives regarding barriers to and responsibility for the workforce integration of skilled immigrants. Specifically, this study assesses employer perceptions of how influential various barriers are to the integration of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) in the workplace, uncovers employer perceptions of SIEs competence levels, identifies employer perceptions regarding multiple stakeholders' levels of responsibility for SIEs integration and explores impactful means to overcome these barriers. Design/methodology/approach: Given Canada's dependence on SIEs for labour force growth, an online survey was conducted with hiring managers of 99 firms in a mid-sized city in Ontario, Canada. Findings: The results demonstrate that employers shift the onus of responsibility for SIEs integration to other stakeholders (namely, the immigrant or government agencies), require documentation to evaluate human capital attainment of SIEs and may be systemically discriminating against SIEs. Research limitations/implications: The results indicate a need for documented evidence to validate foreign education and skills previously acquired by SIEs. They advance research by providing a comparative assessment of barriers from the employer's point of view. Practical implications: The findings support the notion that employers should strategically partner with specialized private or government agencies to help with efforts to attract and evaluate SIEs. Originality/value: Given that employers are key decision-makers regarding employment outcomes, this study investigates the underexplored role and perspective of employers in integrating SIEs. Additionally, this study provides both a holistic and a relative assessment of the barriers to and responsibility for SIEs integration, exploring the impact of each factor on employer decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to examine the systems and mechanisms at provincial level to develop health volunteers to improve health of the immigrant workforce in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative study collected data from document research and in-depth interviews with 22 concerned people who worked at policy and provincial levels to develop health volunteers to improve the health of immigrant workforce. Data were collected from May to July 2017. Then, content of the conceptual framework was analysed. The research objectives were examined and summary and induction analysis interpreted data from documents, observations and interviews. Findings: Ubon Ratchathani has developed a Thai village health volunteer network to provide health care to immigrant workforce. This consisted of four systems and one supporting mechanism, namely, selection of health volunteer, knowledge management on primary health care, welfare management and moral enhancement and resource and budget support. Development is driven through the committee under the mechanisms of government agencies, i.e. the provincial public health office together with non-government organizations and network partners. Originality/value: The findings from this study could help develop health volunteers to significantly improve the health of the immigrant workforce in the Thai health service system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the extent to which immigrant nurses have integrated within the Maltese healthcare system.Design/methodology/approach This research consisted of a qualitative case study approach which was conducted within Malta’s four public entities in the secondary care sector. In this case study, data were collected through 34 semi-structured interviews with ten nursing managers, 12 Maltese nurses and 12 immigrant nurses. The data were analysed using content analysis. Data were collected between June 2015 and July 2015.Findings Four themes emerged from the data. These were: human resources management, language barrier, cultural differences and discrimination. The recruitment of nurses to Malta from other countries translated into several positive and favourable outcomes, such as the sharing of knowledge. However, a number of negative and unfavourable outcomes are also indicated in the data including language barrier and discrimination.Research limitations/implications This paper presents a discussion of the issues experienced within a healthcare system in relation to the mobility of nurses. Increasingly, the nursing workforce across the globe comprises of professionals from various nationality, origin, training, culture and professional ethos. The findings are presented in an effort to inform policy makers, management and administrative structures regarding the issues pertaining to the prevalent growing reality of mobility in nurse populations.Originality/value This research study provides a unique contribution to the literature regarding the phenomenon of nurse mobility because it embraces the integration of nurses as a two-way process. Since data was collected from immigrant nurses as well as from local nurses and nursing managers, this study hopes to offer a different point of view from previous studies which largely focused on the views of immigrant nurses only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of different types of immigrants on the labor market outcomes of different native groups.Design/methodology/approach The study uses a quasi-experimental approach, utilizing the border closures policy as well as political instability and economic conditions in the major countries of origin as exogenous sources of variation in the number of immigrants, to measure the effect of an immigrant-induced labor supply shock of each immigrant type (Palestinians and foreign guest workers) on the wage and employment of native workers (Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews).Findings The effects of immigrants on local labor market outcomes vary with their origin. The different native groups, moreover, are affected differently by each type of immigrants. Specifically, a foreign-worker-induced increase in the labor supply negatively affects only the least-skilled Jewish workers. In contrast, a 10 percent Palestinian-induced increase in the labor supply increases the wage of Israeli Arabs by 3.4 percent, suggesting a net complementarity effect. Short-term slight employment adjustments occur at the intensive rather than the extensive margin.Originality/value The paper studies heterogeneous effects of immigrants by their type; also it studies heterogeneous effects experienced by different native groups. This paper informs the policy discussion about immigration and its effects on native workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to check if the rate of employment dismissal in the Spanish labour market is higher for immigrants from countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) than for the native-born and the immigrants from other developing countries. It also analyses the impact on this rate of the lower endowment of human capital and the segregation in particular occupations and sectors of ENP immigrants. Design/methodology/approach – The study exploits micro-data from the Labour Force Survey before and during the great depression in Spain. The authors define two groups of immigrants, one for those whose origin is an ENP country and another for those from the rest of the developing countries. Then the rate of job loss is computed for the natives and the two groups of immigrants based on the information for each individual in the sample for each of the years under analysis. An empirical model for the probability of employment dismissal is estimated to check if the immigrant-native gap vanishes when controlling for differences in human capital and occupational, sectoral, and territorial allocation of jobs. This traditional approach is complemented with a new proposal based on the decomposition of the gap using a method that does not impose the same response to the observed characteristics in the three demographic groups under analysis. Findings – Immigrants from ENP face a higher rate of employment dismissal. The gap with respect to natives and even to other immigrants increased during the crisis. Most of the gap can be explained by the lower endowment of human capital of the ENP immigrants and, particularly, by their allocation in certain occupations, sectors, and territories. Originality/value – Novelties in this paper include: first, the study of employment layoffs for natives and immigrants in a period of crisis in a country such as Spain that attracted massive migration during the booming period; second, the analysis of the origin of the higher rate of employment dismissal for immigrants from the ENP; and third, the proposal of a new approach to assess the contribution of human capital and segregation on the immigrant-native gap in the rate of job loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]