Does Labour Market Achievement Matter for the Wellbeing of Australian Immigrants? Culture and Gender Differences

Abstract

This study explores the Australian immigrants' job-life relationship by simultaneously estimating a bivariate ordered probit random effects panel model. We found that discrepancies between career goals and employment reality play a central role. The study also explores the characteristics o f immigrants who are likely to have stronger job concerns. Non-western male immigrants are among them. They are more disadvantaged in the labour market and have lower life satisfaction compared to their Western counterparts, while this situation improves with duration in Australia. Also, immigration age is found to be crucial for this adjustment process. For female immigrants, the results suggest that the well-educated female migrants' subjective wellbeing is impeded by struggling over work-family balance.