Acculturation success in employment among Chinese migrants from the Mainland to Hong Kong

Migrants' successful acculturation occurs when they acquire class or occupational positions higher in the host place than in the origin. This is upward class mobility. Conversely, descending in the class hierarchy or downward mobility is an indication of acculturation failure. A longstanding but untested claim is the possibility of acculturation success in Hong Kong due to the openness and abundance of opportunity in the city. Moreover, gender differentials in acculturation success are still uncertain. For the clarification of the issues, a study of 622 adult migrants from the mainland of China to Hong Kong reveals the different forms of acculturation success or failure by log-linear modeling. Results demonstrate gender differences in patterns of class mobility. Essentially, male migrants were equally likely to experience upward and downward mobility. In contrast, female migrants were likely to fall out of employment and are unlikely to have upward mobility. Female migrants, furthermore, experienced less upward or downward mobility than did their male counterparts. To conclude, whereas male migrants are highly and equally likely to face acculturation success and failure in Hong Kong, female migrants are unlikely to exhibit acculturation success there. © 2011 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.