Multicultural strengths at work

In the Netherlands, adolescents with a migration background are less likely to find (adequate) occupational internships compared to their peers without a migration background. Traditionally, research has focused on how a multicultural background can lead to difficulties in the labor market. In the current project, we overcome previous work’s focus on explanations for this employment gap by examining a novel solution for migrant youth’s difficulties in the labor market.

We build on existing strength-based approaches that posit that people growing up in difficult conditions develop enhanced abilities, not despite, but precisely because of their challenging experiences. Research suggests that by navigating and negotiating diverse cultural contexts, multicultural individuals can gain rich knowledge about diverse perspectives, values, and strategies and develop enhanced creativity, cognitive flexibility, and perspective-taking abilities. Yet, we lack understanding of how the recognition of multicultural strengths emerges and to what extent it influences migrant youth's chances on the labor market. We propose that migrant youth’s and employers’ social networks determine whether multicultural strengths are recognized and how this recognition affects labor market outcomes.