Predicting meaningful employment for refugees: the influence of personal characteristics and developmental factors on employment status and hourly wages

The purpose of this study was to examine refugee personal characteristics and developmental factors as predictors of meaningful work for refugees 6 months after their arrival in the United States. This study defines meaningful work as work that provides an adequate living wage and is in a nonremedial (i.e., competitive placement and opportunity for employment upgrade) position. Previous research in this area has focus on demographic factors as predictors of refugee employment outcomes but very few studies have examined the influence of the developmental factors of years spent in refugee flight or refugee career aspirations. Archival data on a sample of 85 refugee adults (18 to 54 years old) who were resettled in a medium sized urban setting in the western United States were accessed for this study. This data set only included refugee adults who had secured employment during the first 6 months in the United States and excluded refugee adults who had not gained employment during this period. Personal characteristic data included sex, age, education level, and English; level. Developmental factors included refugee career aspirations and years spent as a refugee. These variables were predictors for two employment outcome variables, refugee employment status (remedial versus adequate employment) and hourly wage rate. The results of this study were analyzed using Pearson correlations, logistical regression and linear regression procedures. With each increase in years spent as a refugee the odds of gaining adequate employment significantly decrease. High education level and male gender predict hourly wage.