Much of the existing research on economic integration does not differentiate immigrants from refugees. Often, the integration experience of refugees is subsumed under immigrants. Only rarely is the economic situation of refugees examined for its own merit. The main emphasis of existing research on refugees in the economic realm focuses on employment and income in comparison to immigrants and Canadian-born.
There appears to be conflicting evidence as to whether refugees experience long-term income deficiencies in comparison to immigrants and the Canadian-born. Deschamps' (1987, 1982) and Samuel's (1987) studies on the economic integration of Indochinese refugees in Canada, and Kibria's (1989) study on Vietnamese refugee women in the United States reveal that even though refugees themselves are generally satisfied with their progress toward economic integration, they have a long way to go to obtain equity with their Canadian-born and immigrant counterparts. Deschamps (1987) also notes that the sponsorship program has not been largely successful in helping refugees to become economically self-sufficient as some remain dependent on government or private support.
Neuwirth and DeVries (1994) affirm the above results, indicating that full economic integration of refugees has not been achieved. Using data from the 1986 Census, they argue that refugees are the new 'underclass' in Canada due to their low income levels in comparison to all other non-refugee groups. However, data provided by Samuel (1984) suggests that refugees, despite their initial difficulties securing employment, their earnings increase and, over time, begin to "catch-up" to those of Canadian-born and immigrants.
In terms of the employment rate of refugees, the majority of research originates from the United States. One exception is a Canadian study by Adams and Jesudason (1984) which found that Ugandan refugees were able to obtain employment shortly upon arrival in Canada but at a lower occupational level compared to what they enjoyed in their country of origin. English language proficiency has the greatest impact on obtaining employment (Gold, 1992: Haines, 1987). Majka and Mullan (1992) add that the type of support services available to refugees also plays an integral role in obtaining employment.
There are other studies exploring the variables affecting the employment of refugees. Montgomery's (1986) research on Vietnamese in Alberta uses English language skill, education level on arrival, population size of municipality of current residence, and ethnicity to study employment rates and mean gross monthly income. He finds the employment rate and income of Vietnamese is similar to other groups of immigrants, but lower than Canadian-born groups. Other studies originating in the United States suggest that variables such as health, country of origin, length of residence, age, gender and ethnicity also affect the employment status of refugees (Tran and Nguyen, 1994; Potocky, 1996; Strand, 1984). This research also indicates that the effect of these variables on employment is greater for refugees than for immigrants.
Research focusing on ethnic enclaves, blocked mobility and foreign credential recognition are extremely sparse in the refugee literature despite their prominence in immigration studies. Lawrence Lam (1994) examines the link between the blocked mobility thesis and the emergence of small ethnic businesses of Chinese-Vietnamese refugees in Vancouver. The blocked mobility thesis states that ethnic business enclaves arise because certain ethnic groups, in this case Chinese-Vietnamese refugees, are unable to obtain employment in the mainstream economy due to various factors such as language deficiencies, insufficient level of skill to obtain certain types of employment and racial discrimination. The result of these barriers leads to the development of ethnic enclaves where workers who cannot obtain employment in the mainstream economy set up their own ethnic businesses in order to provide themselves with income and meaningful employment.
Lam finds that the largest barrier to employment is the non-recognition of foreign credentials. The result is two-fold: while some Chinese-Vietnamese refugees are forced to work in sweatshops, dead-end jobs and low-paying homework in the mainstream economy, others become "reluctant entrepreneurs" in ethnic enclave businesses (Lam, 1994). Cobas, Aicken and Jardine (1992) suggest that in addition to the variables outlined by Lam, the emergence of an ethnic enclave is also influenced positively by the number of relatives living in the same city as well as level of education upon arrival.
Despite the claims that refugees eventually "catch up" to other immigrant groups and to Canadian-born in terms of their economic integration in society (Samuel, 1984; DeVoretz, 1994; deSilva, 1996), the bulk of the evidence suggests that this is not so. It is clear that research on the economic situation of refugees per se is woefully limited. This is partially due to the fact that refugees are subsumed under general immigrant categories. The sparse economic research focusing solely on refugees suggests that while it is not agreed what variables affect the economic integration of this group, it is certain that their situation is often quite different from that of immigrants. This warrants separate examinations of the income and employment status of refugees.