The Complementarity of the Irish and British Liberal Market Economies and Skilled EU Migration Since 2004 Compared to the Swedish Coordinated Market Economy

This paper sets out to explain why the UK and Ireland have received a higher proportion of skilled and highly educated European migrants since 2004 than Sweden, arguing that the features of the formers’ liberal market economies as described in the Varieties of Capitalism literature are more complementary to skilled temporary migration than those of Sweden’s coordinated market economy. The flexible labour market, the short-term employment relationships, the emphasis on general education and the centrality of competition in the Irish and British labour markets are identified as the main features attracting skilled temporary European migrants. This stands in contrast to Sweden’s emphasis on specialised vocational training, long-term employment relationships and a rigid, less accessible labour market. These findings imply that European coordinated market economies, in need of skilled migrants due to demographic changes, have to create strong institutional incentives to compete with liberal market economies for skilled migrants.     

Tackling Germany’s Demographic Skills Shortage: Permanent Settlement Intentions of the Recent Wave of Labour Migrants from Non-European Countries

Confronted with structural demographic challenges, during the last decade European countries have adopted new labour migration policies. The sustainability of these policies largely depends on the intentions of migrants to stay in their country of destination for the long term or even permanently. Despite a growing dependence on skilled labour migrants, very little information exists about the dynamics of this new wave of migration and existing research findings with their focus on earlier migrant generations are hardly applicable today. The article comparatively tests major theoretical approaches accounting for permanent settlement intentions of Germany’s most recent labour migrants from non-European countries on the basis of a new administrative dataset. Although the recent wave of labour migrants is on average a privileged group with regard to their human capital, fundamentally different mechanisms are shaping their future migration intentions. In contrast to neo-classical expectations, a first path highlights economic factors that determine temporary stays of a creative class benefiting from opportunities of an increasingly international labour market. Instead, socio-cultural and institutional factors are the decisive determinants of a second path leading towards permanent settlement intentions. Three main factors—language skills, the family context and the legal framework—make migrants stay in Germany, providing important implications for adjusting and strengthening labour migration policies in Europe.     

The Emergence of a Low-Skill Migrant Labour Market: Structural Constraints,Discourses of Difference and Blocked Mobility

In this paper, I illustrate how a migrant labour market formed and solidified in the South-West of England immediately after the accession of eight countries (the A8) to the European Union. Furthermore, this was accompanied by a rapid process of differentiation and distinction, labelling particular groups as suited to certain types of work. The research is based on a series of interviews with (often well-educated) A8 migrants working in low-skill roles in the region. Findings indicate that the trajectories that initial migrants follow into work have the effect of producing routes into certain sorts of work for future migrants. However, when such routes lead to low-skill employment (as with the case of the majority of young A8 migrants), this has the effect of halting labour market progression for these workers, whilst simultaneously giving rise to commonly held assumptions that A8 migrants were particularly suited to certain kinds of work in the low-skill sector. I conclude that the co-existence of structural constraints and processes of distinction give rise to a situation in which workers entering the bottom of a migrant labour market can become trapped, regardless of their relative skills or qualifications. Furthermore, such processes rapidly become normalised and established and, without ever becoming formalised or officially grounded, begin to effect and limit the actions of individuals. Whilst such normalised behaviour may be open to contestation and change, it is remarkably resilient.     

Back and forth and in between: returning albanian migrants from Greece and Italy

On the basis of findings from a sample of Albanian migrants who have returned to their country of origin from Greece and Italy, we highlight that Greece attracts less skilled and less well off categories of migrants compared to Italy. However, the integration patterns tell a different story. In spite of the fact that Greece does not represent the first choice of Albanians seeking to migrate, and although those who go to Greece are not among the most qualified, nevertheless, they tend to adjust better to their host society and labour market. Furthermore, returning migrants from Greece seem to be better equipped and more likely to utilize the skills and knowledge acquired through migration compared to those returning from Italy.     

The Political Justification of Migrant Workers in Alberta,Canada

Considering a series of oil-driven economic booms, the use of inter-provincial and international migrant labour has become an important part of labour market policy in the Canadian province of Alberta. The increased use of temporary foreign workers is controversial. Narrative analysis of legislators’ statements in the legislature and the press between 2000 and 2011 reveals the government using three narratives to justify policies encouraging greater use of foreign migrant workers: (1) labour shortages require migrant workers, (2) migrants do not threaten Canadian jobs and (3) migrants are not being exploited. Close scrutiny of each narrative demonstrates them to be largely invalid. This suggests a significant disconnect between the real and espoused reasons for the significant changes to labour market policy, changes that advantage employers and disadvantage both Canadian and foreign workers. The findings are relevant to understand the political dynamics of economically related migration.     

Beyond “Entry-level” Jobs: Immigrant Women and Non-regulated Professional Occupations

This article examines issues of foreign credential recognition from the standpoint of immigrant women with post-secondary degrees and employment backgrounds in non-regulated managerial and business professional occupations. Drawing on interviews with recent immigrant women and service providers in Calgary, Alberta, the article describes the women’s experience of looking for work, locating it in the context of the wider organization of settlement services and the labour market. The discussion focuses on the women’s participation in bridging programs designed to connect skilled immigrants with mainstream employers and help them obtain “entry-level” jobs in their fields.     

Segregation or Integration? Immigrant Self-Employment in Switzerland

This article investigates whether immigrant self-employment is related more to segregation in the labour market than work as an employee (making it justifiable to speak of ethnic business) or whether, on the contrary, it reflects equality with the self-employment by the Swiss. The distinctive features of this research design are the comparison of ethnic segregation in the labour market with gender-specific segregation and the fact that, apart from migrants of the first generation, members of the second generation are also taken into consideration. The analyses show, firstly, that large differences exist between the various groups of migrants and that three patterns in immigrant self-employment become apparent. While for one person self-employment brings greater adjustment to the Swiss in comparison with working as an employee, for another it is associated with greater segregation. The third pattern reveals that self-employment can be an expression of “superstratification” (Überschichtung). Secondly, the analyses indicate that, for the self-employed, gender-specific horizontal and vertical segregation tends to be smaller than for employees. However, in the upper positions of the social space, greater gender-specific inequalities can be observed than in the lower positions, thus making “class” and “gender” intersect as structural categories of social inequality.     

Connecting Return Intentions and Home Investment: the Case of Ghanaian Migrants in Southern Europe

In this paper, we analyse the return intentions and home investment of Ghanaian migrants living in Italy and Spain. We show that the migrants’ intention to resettle in Ghana is a strong motivation for them to invest there. Home construction is the primary investment activity that those who desire to return undertake, followed by setting up an income generating venture (retail shop, bakery, hairdressing salon, cash crop and poultry farms). However, in spite of high return intentions, actual return is largely dependent on economic success than failure. Moreover, the migrants’ desire to educate their children in the West, keep their European residence rights, and difficult socio-economic conditions in Ghana constitute key constraints to return. Consequently, the migrants prefer to establish a permanent home in Europe, with the hope to return home when their children grow up or after their labour market activity is over; and while those in Italy desire to move onward, those in Spain prefer to stay there.     

Recruiting migrant nurses to fill the gaps: the contribution of migrant women in the nursing care sector in Greece

The study examines the complex and stratified nature of the health care profession in Greece, which is increasingly staffed and thus shaped by female migrants. The research explores how immigrant labour is drawn on to fill the most urgent needs in the lower end of the nursing care sector, how immigrant labour gains access to these jobs, the implications of the recruitment process and the effect of these factors on the local labour market structure. It is shown that a predominantly female migrant cohort provides a ready source of nursing care, both complementing and further stratifying the local labour market while also contributing to the sustainability and reinforcement of the segmented health care arena.     

Regional Disparities in Employment of High-Skilled Foreigners – Determinants and Options for Labour Migration Policy in Germany

We investigate the regional disparities in high-skilled foreign employment in Germany. The importance of different factors that influence highly qualified migrants’ decision to migrate to specific regions and especially the role of labour migration policy is analysed. Our results show that labour market variables and the supply of tertiary education are important for the location choice. Based on these empirical results, we discuss options of decentralised labour migration policy in Germany.     

Goals, Constraints and Occupational Choice: The First Twelve Months in the Belfast Labour Market

A central assumption of occupational-choice theory—that young people enter the labour market with initially unrealistic occupational goals which are eventually modified by their subsequent experience of the market, changing from less to more realistic—is critically examined on the basis of data deriving from detailed interviews with 34 school-leavers between May 1978 and June 1979. Two conclusions emerge. Firstly, when one examines the occupational knowledge and experience of the working class and their own perceptions of the careers of their peers and elders, there is no reason why their goals should be described as 'unrealistic'. Secondly, although the time-scale of the data is limited, there is evidence that some school-leavers may eventually adjust their occupational horizons downwards. Equally important, however, is the evidence that some school-leavers may refuse to do this.     

Communicating Employability: the Role of Communicative Competence for Zimbabwean Highly Skilled Migrants in the UK

Skilled migration is an increasingly important topic for both policy and research internationally. OECD governments in particular are wrestling with tensions between their desire to use skilled migration to be on the winning side in the ‘global war for talent’ and their pandering to and/or attempts to outflank rising xenophobia. One aspect that has received relatively little attention is skilled migration from the African Commonwealth to the UK, a situation in which skilled migrants have relatively high levels of linguistic capital in the language of the host country. We focus here on the case of Zimbabwe. In spite of its popular image as a failed state, Zimbabwe has an exceptionally strong educational tradition and high levels of literacy and fluency in English. Drawing on 20 in-depth interviews of Zimbabwean highly skilled migrants, we explore the specific ways in which the communicative competences of these migrants with high formal levels of English operate in complex ways to shape their employability strategies and outcomes. We offer two main findings: first, that a dichotomy exists between their high level formal linguistic competence and their ability to communicate in less formal interactions, which challenges their employability, at least when they first move to the UK; and second, that they also lack, at least initially, the competence to narrativise their employability in ways that are culturally appropriate in England. Thus, to realise the full potential of their high levels of human capital, they need to learn how to communicate competently in a very different social and occupational milieu. Some have achieved this, but others continue to struggle.     

Do First- and Second-Generation Migrants Stay Longer in Social Assistance Than Natives in Belgium?

In many European countries, migrants are overrepresented in social assistance. In Belgium, at least 70% of social assistance beneficiaries are first- or second-generation migrants, as natives are often eligible for a social insurance benefit. Lower exit rates among migrants relative to natives could raise concern about the labour market inclusion of beneficiaries, as well as the financial sustainability and solidarity basis of the welfare state. This paper analyses whether migrants remain longer in social assistance than natives and whether migrants vary in their timing of exit by migration-history characteristics. We use longitudinal data from the social assistance administration linked to other administrative sources, including detailed information about migration histories of migrants. Using event history analysis, we track the exits from social assistance for 22,620 beneficiaries in the period June 2005–December 2009. We find that migrants have substantially longer median durations than natives. Controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, benefit and work histories, we find that most migrant groups have (slightly) lower exit rates than natives. Asylum seekers stay substantially longer in social assistance whereas migrants with longer durations of residence have shorter benefit periods than recent migrants. Second-generation migrants do not stay longer in social assistance than natives.     

The cognitive structure of movements in classical dance

AimsThis study was designed to elicit differences in the mental representations of two basic movements from classical ballet, the Pirouette en dehors and the Pas assemblé, stored in long-term memory of dancers of different skill-levels.MethodThe movements were demonstrated and explained verbally to professional ballet dancers, amateur dancers, and non-dancers. Subsequently, participants were assigned to a hierarchical sorting (splitting) task in which Basic Action Concepts (BACs) of the movements had to be sorted according to their functional relevance in movement execution. The task was presented as verbal labels on a computer screen. The responses were subjected to the application of a new analytical method, called SDA-M, which includes a hierarchical cluster analysis. The method enabled eliciting cognitive structures of the movements in the participants' long-term memory, and thus enabled comparing these cognitive structures in subjects of different skill-level.ResultsParticipants of different skill-level showed movement-specific differences in their mental representation structures in long-term memory. A similar structure was noted in advanced amateurs and professionals for the Pirouette en dehors, which referred to the functional phases of the movement, and less functional representations were noted in beginners and novices. For the Pas assemblé, the experts' representation structure was different from that of amateurs and novices, pointing toward differences in movement execution. It is concluded that movement representations of this kind in long-term memory might provide the basis for motor control in skilled ballet movements in the form of suitably organized perceptual-cognitive reference structures.ImplicationsThe results point toward a unique mental representation as a function of skill-level and movement nature. Individual and group results obtained with the applied method can be implemented to support (mental) training methods in classical dance practice.     

Responding to regional labour demand: International migration and labour markets in New Zealand’s regions

New Zealand, like Australia and Canada, has long had an active policy of seeking immigrants to “grow” its population and economy. Unlike the other two countries, New Zealand does not have a federal system of government, and the absence of a state or provincial level of legislative authority has meant that policies to promote immigration and to meet labour market needs have been centrally driven. In the latter decades of the twentieth century, labour market activation policies in New Zealand were focussed on supply, including the engagement or re-engagement of workers. In the early years of the twenty-first century, there have been significant labour shortages, particularly (but not only) of skilled labour in a range of industries and regions, as well as changes in the nature of labour market engagement associated with the rise of various forms of non-standard employment. The policy focus has been increasingly demand-focussed and driven by local labour market considerations. It has also increasingly revolved around recruiting immigrant labour in response to local skill shortages. This paper discusses the way in which regions in New Zealand have developed schemes that are designed to attract immigrant labour to meet local labour demand as well as provide a key driver in local economic development.     

“When is my Dutch good enough?” Experiences of refugee women with Dutch labour organizations

The basic assumption in the Dutch dominant discourse on integration is that knowledge of the Dutch language when combined with education is the key factor for integration into society. The aim of this article is to show how female refugees who have completed higher education in the Netherlands experience the process of integration into the Dutch labour market through contacts with and in Dutch organizations. We situate the narratives of these women in the broader discursive context of the Netherlands and show what these experiences can tell us about the policies and debates on integration in the Netherlands.     

The Mystery Revealed—Intersectionality in the Black Box: An Analysis of Female Migrants' Employment Opportunities in Urban China

Female migrant workers are doubly disadvantaged in China's urban labor market because of their doubly marginalized identities as both women and rural residents. This article takes a process‐centered approach to explore how female migrants' two identity categories generate intersectional effects on their job‐search experiences in cities. Data from in‐depth interviews conducted in Xi'an city, China, in 2010 and 2011 reveal that three patterns of relationship explain the processes where the gender–hukou (residence status) intersection affects female migrants. In the first pattern, a splintering relationship, hukou and gender work singly to form employment discrimination against female migrants. The second, a contesting relationship, indicates that hukou and gender alternate as the primary identities that affect their employment opportunities. In the third, a collaborating relationship, hukou and gender work together to either positively or negatively shape female migrants' employment prospects. No matter which of the relationships plays out, female migrants' disadvantages as cheap urban laborers have become deeply entrenched in the urban labor market. This can be explained by two powerful social institutions in contemporary China, the hukou system and patriarchy.     

Anticipation skill and susceptibility to deceptive movement

The ability to detect deceptive movement was examined in skilled and novice rugby players. Participants (14 per group) attempted to predict direction change from video of expert and recreational rugby players changing direction with and without deceptive movement. Confidence associated with judgments was recorded on each trial to seek evidence regarding use of inferential (heuristic-based) and direct-perceptual (invariant-based) judgments. Novices were found to be susceptible to deceptive movement whereas skilled participants were not; however, both skilled and novice participants were more confident on trials containing deceptive movement. The data suggest that the skill-level difference in sensitivity to advance visual information extends to deceptive information. The implications of this finding, and the importance of considering the underlying process of anticipation skill, are discussed.     

Immigrant Youth and Employment: Lessons Learned from the Analysis of LSIC and 82 Lived Stories

Finding a job has become a critical challenge to many youth. Immigrant youth, who have been a key part of the global migrants, are particularly vulnerable when entering the job market of the host country due to various structural barriers. However, in both public policy discourse and research, their labour market experience tends to be overlooked. In this paper, we report the employment experience of recently arrived immigrant youth based on an analysis of the LSIC and findings of in-depth interviews of 82 immigrant youth in four cities in Canada. Our results reveal that recently arrived immigrant youth tend to work in lower-skilled employment, experience significant delays in finding employment, have difficulties with foreign credential recognition, and have fewer means to access to job markets.     

Are Peripheral Regions Benefiting from National Policies Aimed at Attracting Skilled Migrants? Case Study of the Northern Territory of Australia

Complex and interrelated trends in population and labour market dynamics in peripheral regions of developed countries have compelled them to use international skilled migration to address their skill shortages and facilitate economic development. Using the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia as a case study, this paper examines if and how these regions can benefit from a national policy for skilled migration, including the regional migration policy, which Australia has been operating since 1996–1997. The paper situates the regional migration policy in a context of the global competition for skills, explains how it came about and outlines the key characteristics of the NT as a peripheral region. An innovative approach to immigration data analysis permits formulating four propositions about the nature of international migration to peripheral regions. The analysis consists of tracking over a period of 17 years, the dynamics between all components of Australia’s and the Northern Territory’s permanent additions and comparing changes in the composition of their respective skilled migration streams. The paper proposes that peripheral regions benefit from skilled migration with a lagged effect as compared to Australia as a whole. It suggests that in order to better address skill shortages, they should also develop the capacity of the locally resident immigrant groups.