Rethinking immigration: Toward an interdisciplinary research agenda on immigrant settlement and labour integration

This presentation introduces A Research Agenda for Immigrant Settlement and Adjustment, an edited collection that brings together international scholars to reframe immigrant integration as a systems-level phenomenon rather than an individual outcome. At a time when countries such as Canada are scaling immigration to meet labour market and demographic needs, public discourse continues to focus on intake numbers rather than on the structural conditions that shape employment, health, and long-term adjustment. Three core thematic contributions are explored: (i) how traditional integration theories have been challenged and reframed to better capture the role of complex systems and policy environments that influence access to employment; (ii) how intersecting forms of disadvantage shape labour market outcomes for vulnerable populations, including refugees and women; and (iii) which methodological innovations and future research priorities can better capture the dynamics of settlement and work integration across varied national and local contexts. The talk concludes by outlining a forward-looking research agenda that invites collaboration across disciplines to build more equitable and effective research and policy responses.

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