Economic integration of immigrants – towards a new conceptualisation of an old term

The main aim of this paper is to critically assess prevalent conceptualisations of the notion of economic integration to set out a research framework capable of structuring empirical research on economic integration, with a particular focus on the New Immigrant Destinations. To overcome the difficulties identified in the literature, we propose a new broad conceptual model of integration. We postulate that an analysis of economic integration outcomes (effects) should consider aspirations and capabilities of a given individual and include other than economic dimensions of immigrants’ participation in receiving societies. Importantly, we treat aspirations and capabilities as useful concepts not only in understanding one’s migratory behaviour (including immobility) but also in explaining and interpreting integration outcomes. In our approach, we go beyond traditional analysis of integration that focuses on settlement migrants and propose a scheme that allows for understanding of economic integration of various categories of immigrants.