Non-metropolitan settlement and integration outcomes of humanitarian migrants in Australia: Combining spatial, multidimensional and longitudinal perspectives
利用澳大利亚人道主义移民纵向数据，研究发现非都市定居有助于就业和稳定住房，但收入与英语进步较慢，歧视风险更高，主观幸福感无显著差异。
Dispersal policies that place humanitarian migrants outside non-metropolitan locations are increasingly common, but evidence of their impact on integration outcomes is mixed. By combining spatial, longitudinal and multidimensional perspectives into a unified analytical framework, this study examines the relationships between non-metropolitan settlement and a diverse range of objective and subjective integration outcomes. To accomplish this, we leverage five waves of panel data from Building a New Life in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Humanitarian Migrants (2013–2018). Our results indicate that non-metropolitan settlement is related to better access to employment and stable housing and a lower likelihood of being Not in Employment, Education, and Training (NEET), but a higher risk of experiencing discrimination. Over time, humanitarian migrants’ income and English-language proficiency trajectories are flatter in non-metropolitan than metropolitan regions, pointing to potential long-term challenges of rural settlement. Encouragingly, we find no statistically significant differences in physical and mental health, sense of belonging and life satisfaction. While the integration outcomes of humanitarian migrants in non-metropolitan Australia are mixed, their subjective well-being is not negatively impacted. This suggests that, despite challenges, there are opportunities for humanitarian-migrant settlement outside of major cities.