‘English ain't English in the Australian workplace’: a narrative analysis of Korean migrant women's labour market experiences

Abstract

Drawing upon human capital theory, this article examines the labour market experiences of Korean migrant women in Australia. Narrative analysis reveals that Korean migrant women experience post-entry barriers in the Australian labour market. These barriers are not only attributable to their English language skills but also to their cultural background and personal orientations' aspirations. This article finds that migrants whose language, cultural and personal orientation and academic qualifications are similar to those of the dominant culture tend to feel less disadvantaged in the labour market. The narrative analysis allows Korean migrant women to describe symbolically in their own words their labour market experiences and the decisions, factors and emotions that constitute their experiences. The findings reinforce an increasing call for incorporating the cultural and personal aspects of human capital (beyond linguistic proficiency) into an understanding of the post-entry labour market experiences of migrant workers in their adopted country.

Basándose en la teoría del capital humano, este artículo analiza las experiencias en el mercado laboral de las mujeres inmigrantes coreanas en Australia. El análisis narrativo revela que las mujeres inmigrantes coreanas experimentan barreras postingreso al mercado laboral australiano. Estas barreras no son solamente atribuibles a su destreza para hablar el inglés sino también a su bagaje cultural y sus aspiraciones y orientaciones personales. Este artículo muestra que las inmigrantes cuyo idioma, orientación personal y cultural, y calificaciones académicas son similares a las de la cultura dominante tienden a sentirse con menos desventajas en el mercado laboral. El análisis narrativo les permite a las inmigrantes mujeres coreanas describir simbólicamente en sus propias palabras sus experiencias en el mercado laboral y las decisiones, factores y emociones que constituyen sus experiencias. Los resultados refuerzan el llamado creciente a incorporar los aspectos culturales y personales del capital humano (más allá de la destreza lingüística) en una comprensión de las experiencias postingreso de las trabajadoras migrantes en el mercado laboral en su país de adopción.

Keywords:

• post-entry barriers
• English language
• cultural capital
• Korean migrant women
• narrative analysis

Keywords:

• barreras postingreso
• idioma inglés
• capital cultural
• mujeres inmigrantes coreanas
• análisis narrativo

Acknowledgements

The author is thankful to the Korean migrant women who participated in this research as without their valuable contribution this article would not have been possible, and also to her ‘blind’ reviewers who provided valuable constructive feedback to enhance the quality of this article. In particular, she has been greatly encouraged by the comments of Prof. Robyn Longhurst and Ms Cherie Todd for their continuous assistance and contributions for betterment. Finally, she thanks Fiona Clark for on-going support to her research and writing, and her daughter for ongoing editing and proof-reading. This article was completed with the support of the Women's Research Centre at Chonnam National University, Republic of Korea.