Employment affects the economic and social aspects of integration. Being in work ensures an income and the workplace is a site of social encounter, so employment is also a facilitator of the social aspects of integration. Returning to the definition of integration, employment is one of the facilitators of migrants’ social inclusion and well-being. This chapter analyses the labourmarket experiences of migrants, looking at their economic activity, income, occupational sector and social integration in the workplace.

Many migrants find work easily, but some groups, for example, refugees, are more likely to be unemployed or economically inactive. The second half of the chapter evaluates adult ESOL provision and welfare-to-work programmes, discussing the debate about mainstream and targeted support. While integration policy has acted on unemployment, it has not responded to the experiences of migrants who are in work, with many being trapped in low-paid jobs that offer few prospects of career advancement or opportunities for social integration. The chapter ends with areas for action: improved ESOL, a greater acknowledgement of the needs of migrants already in work and for policy makers to engage with employers.

The labour-market experiences of migrants

While the majority of adult migrants are employed in the UK, there are some differences between them and the UKborn population in their labour-market experiences. Overall, migrants have a slightly lower employment rate than the UK born population. Some 71.5% of the working age (16–64) UKborn population were employed in the period January–March 2013, but for those born outside the UK, this figure was 66.4% (Table 6.1). However, this gap is partly a result of the inclusion of economically inactive overseas students in the statistics. The data also masks significant variation between and within countryof- birth groups.

While employment is proportionally lower among migrants than among the UK-born population, migrant women are more likely than UK-born women to be in work and are less likely to work part time (Dickens and McKnight, 2009). There are, however, groups where female employment rates are low – for example, Bangladesh- and Somalia-born women (Rutter et al, 2008b).

Migrants’ mode of entry into the UK is also associated with their rates of employment. EU migrants and those arriving on work visas tend to have high rates of employment, as the reason for their migration is primarily for work.