Blacks, who are trapped in ghetto-like urban environments and who fail to participate in society, who are not able to get a decent house and cannot get a proper job': that is the stereotypical fearful image particularly associated with US cities. It also seems to play a major role in the political and scientific debates about integration of (black or coloured) immigrants into other countries. This is certainly true for the Netherlands, where the fear of the ghetto is frequently expressed in relation to the settlement of Caribbean, Turkish and Moroccan immigrants. However, whereas the stereotype of the ghetto may be valid for some parts of the black population in some US cities, the immigrant settlement patterns in the US and elsewhere seem to require other images. Certainly the European (and again specifically the Dutch) situation should not be referred to using labels like 'the ghetto', not even when it concerns black Caribbean immigrants of African origin. In this paper we analyse the level of integration of Dutch Caribbean immigrants, i.e. Surinamese and Antilleans. Integration was investigated in the spatial sphere and in the housing market and labour market contexts in the Netherlands, and more particularly in Amsterdam. Moderate levels of spatial segregation and a fairly strong housing market position indicate high levels of integration. Their position on the labour market, which initially was less favourable, has recently improved substantially, and coincides with advancement in higher secondary education among Surinamese youths. The article sets out that these achievements are likely to be associated with the wider organisation of the Dutch welfare state and with the booming economy. Since currently that welfare state is under revision, with an increase in social polarisation and a reduction of housing support among the likely effects, and since employment opportunities for many immigrants are strongly related to the business cycle, the future prospects for Caribbean immigrants are not unambiguously positive. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.

Amsterdam Spatial segregation Integration Netherlands Welfare state Caribbean immigrants

Netherlands migrants experience welfare provision labor market black population immigrant population