Economic integration of immigrants is commonly presented as one of key preconditions for integration in other spheres of life (social, cultural, political).
Nonetheless it remains unclear how we define – and understand – integration in an economic sense: as unrestricted access of immigrants to the labour market and employment (Penninx 1990), as an ability to obtain an identical or similar position on the labour market as the representatives of the receiving society (Barrett and Duffy 2007; Ager and Strang 2008) or simply as a labour market incorporation.
Additionally, most of the theoretical concepts and empirical studies focus on the American or Western European models of immigration (and integration) and do not necessarily address issues such as particularities of temporary migration or the role of migration policies in various phases of the migration transition (Arango 2012).
Therefore the main aims of the conference are:
• To discuss and to challenge existing theoretical and conceptual views on economic
integration of migrants considering importance of temporary migration, position of a
given country in the migration cycle or tension between opportunities and aspirations
(structure and agency);
• To present and to discuss empirical studies on immigrants socio-economic integration/
assimilation/ labour market incorporation;
• To analyze links between various spheres of integration;
• To discuss the role of human and social capital in immigrants economic performance;
• To assess the importance of migration policies as shaping various levels of socioeconomic
integration.
