Immigrant job satisfaction: the Australian experience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the level of job satisfaction among Australian immigrants relative to the native-born over time as a measure of their labour market assimilation. Design/methodology/approach – Using the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia panel data set, six measures of job satisfaction are tested using the random effects Generalised Least Squares method with a Mundlak correction. Labour market assimilation is defined by “years since arrival” and also via cohort effects. Findings – The authors find statistical evidence of general job dissatisfaction amongst immigrants in Australia relative to the native-born, driven mainly by non-English Speaking Background (NESB) immigrants, though this dissipates for long-term immigrants, irrespective of English Speaking Background (ESB) or NESB status. Econometric results strengthen these results though improvements over time are only strongly evident for NESB immigrants, whilst results for ESB immigrants remain mixed, and is dependent on the definition of “assimilation”. Originality/value – This paper extends the immigrant labour market assimilation literature by introducing job satisfaction as a measure of assimilation.