Research Seminar in Sociology of Law with Phoebe Burgess

Integrating refugees into the Australian labour market

Law on the books vs law in action

This presentation introduces my doctoral research, which investigates how refugee labour market integration is problematised within Australian labour market regulatory frameworks. The focus is on refugees resettled in Australia through the UNHCR humanitarian program—a cohort that constitutes over 85% of refugee arrivals in Australia. In contrast to the European context, where those who seek asylum upon arrival constitute a significant proportion of humanitarian immigration, Australia’s almost exclusively planned refugee acceptance regime presents a distinct landscape for examining regulatory and institutional responses to refugee labour market integration.

The presentation begins by outlining the research methodology and situating the project within the broader policy context of Australia’s refugee resettlement program. The Australian labour market and the state’s approach to labour law will then be explored, highlighting the institutional logics that underpin employment services, compliance regimes, and market-based policy instruments. This is followed by a discussion of refugee employment outcomes in Australia, drawing on recent government data and scholarship to expose persistent patterns of exclusion, underemployment, and occupational downgrading.

The presentation will conclude with a discussion of the analytical framework that will guide the next phase of my research. This critical analysis seeks to move beyond individualised explanations of refugee unemployment to examine how regulatory and policy mechanisms may produce or consolidate structural disadvantage for refugees within the Australian labour market.