Exploring Human Capital and Institutional Factors Associated with Refugee Integration Beyond Economic Self-Sufficiency

Background/Purpose: The US Refugee Admissions Program has emphasized economic self-sufficiency as the primary goal of refugee resettlement. This emphasis resulted in trapping refugees in low-skill, low-wage jobs, paradoxically delaying a more robust long-term integration. Recognizing this constraint, resettlement agencies offer services to further improve human capitals (e.g., English proficiency) and opportunities for building bridging social capitals (e.g., social/intercultural connections) for refugees­—setting up refugee newcomers for broader, meaningful integration. Yet, there is scant literature that examined the relationship between these institutional services and integration outcome beyond the economic self-sufficiency. Thus, this study explored two interconnected questions: (1) Which human capitals best predict refugees’ participation in institutional services aimed to improve their broader long-term integration efforts?; and (2) which institutional services are associated with bridging social capitals?

Methods: We conducted secondary data analyses using a sample of adult refugees (N=1503) from the 2022 Annual Survey of Refugees, which is a nationally representative survey of recently arrived refugees. Pre- and post-migration work status, English proficiency, and educational attainment were identified as human capital variables, which were used as factors in a series of logistic regression analyses to predict institutional service engagement (ESL classes, job preparation programs, or educational pursuits). Another set of logistic regression analyses was conducted to examine institutional services as predictors for bridging social capital (degrees of cross-cultural interactions).

Results: Among human capitals, English proficiency was associated with lower odds of participating in ESL class (OR=0.547, p<.05), while being associated with higher odds for job program (OR=1.442, p<.01) and educational pursuit (OR=6.659, p<.001). Being unemployed (post-migration work status) was associated with higher odds for ESL class (OR=2.402, p<.01) and for educational pursuit (OR=2.802, p<.001). Educational attainment was associated with higher odds for participating in ESL class (OR=1.882, p<.001) and for job program (OR=1.768, p<.01). Among institutional services, job program (OR=1.415, p<.01) and educational pursuit (OR=2.315, p<.001) were associated with higher odds of bridging social capital.

Conclusion and Implication: The results showed that each institutional service engagement is driven by different human capital factors. English proficiency, compared with educational attainment, played a more influential role in participating in institutional engagements. On the other hand, participation in job preparation programs and educational pursuits was more likely to foster bridging social/intercultural capital. Interestingly, attending ESL class was not associated with higher odds of bridging social capital. Altogether, these findings highlight that refugees must negotiate economic self-sufficiency while simultaneously exploring opportunities for furthering their personal development and broader social integration. This study contributes to the literature by identifying institutional services as a pathway for broader integration. The results also demonstrated how policy shapes institutional engagement while consequently influencing bridging social/intercultural capital during and after the initial resettlement period. Thus, to achieve a more robust refugee integration, the policy should allow various institutional services opportunities to equip newly arrived refugees to pursue career advancement and build bridging social capital to expand their social networks in resettlement cities.