Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p> Refugee settlement in regional Australia has increased in recent decades. Policies driving this shift aim to address regional labor shortages, but the quality of regional employment and its long-term psychological impacts are poorly understood. One potential contributor is occupational downgrading (employment below pre-migration skill level), which may be greater in regional than urban areas and may contribute to work-related stress. Using <italic>Building a New Life in Australia</italic> longitudinal survey data (2013–2018), we compared urban and regional trajectories of refugees’ employment and work-related stress and tested occupational downgrading as a mediator. We hypothesized that, compared with urban refugees, regional refugees would have higher employment, show increasing work-related stress, and experience greater occupational downgrading, which would mediate location differences in work-related stress. As predicted, compared with urban locations, employment was higher in regional locations and work-related stress increased over time (and decreased in urban locations). Occupational downgrading was more pronounced in regional locations but did not mediate the association between location and work-related stress. These findings challenge the assumption that higher employment necessarily indicates better integration. Regional settlement may support workforce entry yet carry psychological costs over time. Research and policy should therefore address refugees’ longer-term work experiences in regional areas </p>