This study addresses critical questions in relation to the factors affecting the economic lives, performance and assimilation of immigrants in Ireland. Data from the Census of Population of Ireland, 2006, is used. Three key themes are addressed: the labour market outcomes and performance of immigrants in Ireland; immigrant and gender equality in the Irish labour market; and the housing outcomes of immigrants in Ireland. Preliminary statistics show that immigrants in Ireland have favourable labour market characteristics. Utilising econometric estimation techniques, it is reported that, ceteris paribus, immigrants from NI, GB, EU 13 and USA are more likely, relative to the native population, of having occupational success (being employed in Professional, Managerial or Technical (PMT) jobs). Other immigrants report a very different labour market experience, where, positive labour market characteristics do not translate into occupational success. Others experience a structural disadvantage in the Irish labour market. All immigrants are less likely to be in self-employment, relative to natives. Education and subjects studied play a key role for immigrants' labour market integration and success. Employing equality adjusted proportions, it is reported that immigrants experience greater within group inequality than natives. This study paints the gender dimension of immigration in Ireland in a favourable light. Female immigrants do not appear to suffer from a double disadvantage in the Irish labour market.

Despite the economic recession there is still demand for foreign labour in the UK construction industry. This presents many construction management problems, not least is the communication barrier. Some research examining the extent of the language barrier within the construction industry has been undertaken. Several of these studies have advocated the use of images as a means of communicating with site operatives who have little English. Other studies have actively created communication material for use in site health and safety communications. The author's research contributes to this existing body of research by exerting a stronger focus on the source -channel - delivery. Furthermore, the research was unique in that it addressed the contribution that the presenter of the communication exerted on the audience, in terms of knowledge gain and perception. The aims of the research were: to determine how images currently used within the industry are understood by site operatives of varying cultural background and language proficiency; ~ how comprehension of site specific information following an induction using images compares to inductions without images; and how the presenter of site inductions can influence audience perception and knowledge gain. An exploration into the nature and extent of the communication problem was conducted via interviews and site visits. A series of tests were then developed and piloted before '? conducting preliminary comprehension testing. Observations of site inductions were then undertaken to assess presenter credibility. Feedback from site operatives was elicited using a likert scale. Finally, knowledge gain was assessed by asking operatives open questions regarding site specific information. Qualitative analysis highlighted that health and safety images currently in use are often misinterpreted by non English speaking operatives, but, simple design changes can drastically alter comprehension toward the intended meaning. The credibility assessment method indicated that it was sensitive enough to differentiate between differences in credibility, but further development of the instrument is required. The final stage of analysis revealed that more information was transmitted to receivers when using pictorial inductions compared with text based inductions.

This thesis examines the causes behind the slow progress of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in coming up with a regional policy framework for the protection of migrant workers. I argue in this thesis that normative structures within the association and its relevant member countries do not sufficiently support the establishment of such protection policy for migrant workers at the regional level. The research puzzle is tested by taking a case study that is looking at ASEAN's major workers sending countries, Indonesia and the Philippines. At the regional level the case study includes analysis on the institution of ASEAN and the ILO as well as Malaysia as the region's main workers receiving country. I analyse this puzzle by using two level games approach and complementing the approach with the analytical framework of sociological institutionalism. Two level games approach has previously offered explanations on how domestic level politics can influence regional policy negotiations to the extent that they constrain policy makers and disturb the policy process. I utilise this analytical framework by combining it with sociological institutionalism which allows further analysis into the substance of previously mentioned constraints and how these constraints are administered. The analysis reveals that supportive ideas to migrant workers protection within the domestic institutions of Indonesia and the Philippines are not equipped with sufficient strength to overcome contradicting ideas at the regional level. Identities and discourses between societal and governmental institutions in both countries lack consolidation on the form and substance of workers protection. This subsequently constrains policy makers' actions in a regional policy formulation involving institutions at the regional level whose ideas on workers protection are contradictory. What I have also uncovered is that, although identities in ASEAN support workers protection, ASEAN's main discourses of non-interference and consensus impede the establishment of a coherent workers protection policy.

Cosmopolitanism is widely debated in the literature of business and management and social sciences. It is often seen as a solution to the problem of international employees' maladjustment. The literature has predominantly examined the experiences of labour migrants and expatriates. In recent years, self-initiated foreign work experiences (SFE) have gained more relevance. Demographically, economically, socially and culturally, SFEs are situated in the 'middle' between labour migrants and expatriates. Yet, concomitant discussions of a 'middle' of cosmopolitanism and the exploration of everyday life of this middle cosmopolitanism have been rare. Conceptualising SFE processes is vital for a more holistic and effective understanding of international adjustment and cosmopolitanism. To this end, the study provides an ethnography of SFEs' everyday lives. In particular, it examines the backgrounds and current experiences of international employees (IEs) in India's knowledge process offshoring (KPO) industry at work, at home and outside their homes. At work, IEs displayed and created attachments to their work, India and the local through their colleagues and friends. At home, IEs in different company apartments demonstrated various processes of sharing and learning despite cultural and linguistic differences. Outside their homes, IEs engaged in numerous leisure activities revealing IEs' motivations and ways in which IEs adjusted. The study offers two findings. Throughout their activities at work, homes and in India, IEs balanced emotions and reasons, negotiated the global and local and self-flexibility and externally required flexibility. IEs also engaged in friendships to various degrees. Both findings of IEs' activities reveal complex dynamics of SFE adjustment and cosmopolitanism. The findings built the foundation for a new framework to understand SFE cosmopolitanism and international adjustment.

Le sujet des migrations internationales a récemment fait l’objet d’une attention sans précédent dans l’opinion publique comme dans les médias. Or, si le débat sur les effets des migrations internationales semble plus que jamais d’actualité, celui-ci attire l’attention des économistes depuis plusieurs décennies déjà. La présente thèse s’insère ainsi dans la littérature économique sur les effets des migrations internationales en proposant trois essais empiriques sur les implications de la mobilité humaine, à la fois pour les migrants, les natifs dans leur pays d’accueil et leurs proches restés dans leur pays d’origine. Le Chapitre 2 revisite de manière empirique l’impact du multiculturalisme (mesuré par un indice de diversité à l’intérieur du groupe des migrants et par des effets de contamination) sur les performances macro-économiques des États Américains sur la période 1960-2010. Nous distinguons les effets du multiculturalisme par niveaux d’éducation, en contrôlant pour les variables standards de la littérature sur la croissance ainsi que pour l’hétérogénéité inobservée et en prenant en compte le statut légal des migrants ainsi que leur âge d’entrée aux États-Unis. Dans le but d’identifier un effet causal, nous comparons plusieurs stratégies d’identification différentes de la littérature existante. Nos résultats convergent vers un effet robuste positif et significatif de la diversité des diplômés du tertiaire sur le PIB par tête. Aucun effet de la diversité pour les niveaux d’éducation inférieurs, ou d’effets de contamination ne sont mis en évidence. Le Chapitre 3 s’insère dans la littérature sur les déterminants de la performance des migrants sur le marché du travail dans leur pays d’accueil. Nous regardons si l’attitude des natifs affecte ou non les durées de chômage des migrants en Allemagne. En utilisant des données de panel (GSOEP) au niveau individuel sur la période 1984-2012 et un modèle de durée, nous trouvons que des niveaux de confiance plus faibles des natifs envers les résidents d’un pays donné (mesurés à l’aide des enquêtes Eurobarometers) sont associés à des durées de chômage plus longues pour les immigrés originaires de ce pays. Nos résultats soulignent le fait que, différents groupes d’immigrés font face à des obstacles différents en fonction de leur origine, pour s’insérer sur le marché du travail.
Le Chapitre 4 cherche quant à lui à comprendre si les migrants au niveau international contribuent ou non au progrès technologique dans les pays en développement en induisant un transfert de connaissances productives de leur pays d’accueil vers leur pays d’origine. En utilisant un indicateur pour le niveau de connaissances productives de chaque pays (ECI) et les stocks bilatéraux de migrants vers 20 pays de l’OCDE, nous montrons que la migration internationale est un canal de transmission important de la technologie. / International migration recently attracted unprecedented public attention and media coverage. However, while the debate on the effects on international migration on the economy seems now more relevant than ever, it already attracts the attention of economic researchers for decades. The present thesis provides three empirical studies that investigate the implications of international migration both for migrants themselves, natives in their host countries and those left behind. Chapter 2 empirically revisits the impact of multiculturalism on the macroeconomic performance of US states over the 1960-2010 period. We test for skill-specific effects of multiculturalism, controlling for standard growth regressors and a variety of fixed effects, and accounting for the age of entry and legal status of immigrants. To identify causation, we compare various instrumentation strategies used in the existing literature. We provide converging and robust evidence of a positive and significant effect of diversity among college-educated immigrants on GDP per capita. Conversly, we find no impact of low-skilled diversity or contamination effects. Chapter 3 fits within the literature looking at the determinants of the performance of immigrants in the destination country labor markets. We investigate how natives’ attitudes affect immigrants’ unemployment duration in Germany. Using individual level panel data from the German Socio Economic Panel from 1984 to 2012, we use survival analysis methods to model immigrants’ unemployment durations. We find that lower trust levels of natives towards the citizens of a given country, measured using Eurobarometer surveys, positively influence the unemployment duration of immigrants originating from this country. Our results highlight the fact that immigrants face different obstacles depending on their origin when it comes to integrating destination country labor markets. Chapter 4 analyses whether international migrants contribute to increasing technological advances in developing countries by inducing a transfer of productive knowledge from developed countries back to migrants’ home countries. Using the Economic Complexity Index as a proxy for the amount of productive knowledge embedded in each countries and bilateral migrant stocks of 20 OECD destination countries, we show that international migration is a strong channel of technological transmission.