Migrants as Cheap Labourers in Europe: Towards Critical Assessment of Integration
Migrants as Cheap Labourers in Europe: Towards Critical Assessment of Integration

Summary/Abstract: Many “third country” migrants are recruited to the EU for unskilled labour, filling in positions that are unattractive to the “domestic” workforce. Current integration policies declare integration as a two-way process that should equalise migrants’ opportunities with those of the “nationals”. However, integration often appears blind to addressing specific migrant positions, in particular migrants as precarious and low-paid workers. This article discusses in a comparative perspective the precarious positions of migrants from “third countries” in six EU member states – Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia. The article first addresses most recent data on migrant populations and discusses the sectors of migrant work. The assumption is that current migration and integration policies are to a large extent devoid of the migrants’ own perceptions and needs. It is therefore pivotal for the presented argument to provide visibility of migrants and discuss their own living and working experiences. Considering migrants as “partners in communication”, the article analyses interviews and focus groups engaging 150 migrants that were conducted in the six countries in 2009. Attention is devoted to discussing the themes that emerge in migrant narratives, analysing the cross-country similarities and differences in the economies that are largely sustained by a migrant workforce. By exploring the precarious labour market experiences of migrants, the article questions the validity of the concept of integration that remains an important objective of current EU migration regimes.

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