Second generation Australians

Abstract

The main objectives of this study are to examine the social, economic and demographic outcomes of second generation Australians, to compare them by their parents’ national or ethnic origins and with their peers who are either first or at least third or more generations. Among the socioeconomic and demographic outcomes examined in the study are educational attainment, employment, occupational status, language shift and family formation patterns. The study also explores the issue of intergenerational mobility by examining whether the second generation’s outcomes are related to their parents’ socioeconomic background. The study is based primarily on data from the 1996 Census. The second generation is identified directly from census data on birthplace and parents’ birthplace. In this study, the second generation is defined as persons born in Australia with one or both parents born in an overseas country. The second generation is examined according to the country of birth of both parents where both are born in the same country, or if not, the father’s country of birth. Comparisons are also undertaken according to their parents’ English proficiency country groupings (EP Groups), a classification developed by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA 1997) that takes account of the level of English proficiency of recent immigrants. The study takes a cohort approach in examining the second generation. It focuses on four specific age cohorts: children aged 0-14 years, youth aged 15-24, and adults aged 25-34 and 35-44 in 1996. These age cohorts are associated with different waves of immigration to Australia, with the younger cohorts including the children of Asian immigrants who arrived after 1975, while the older cohorts are predominantly of European origins, reflecting the post-war migration from Europe of the 1950s and 1960s. Show more