Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching social and economic consequences. They are visible particularly in the functioning of local labour markets, affecting less privileged groups such as migrant workers, in a specific way. Here, our analysis aims to identify the strategies of adaptation of Ukrainian economic migrants to the changing situation in the local labour market in the Poznań agglomeration during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis relies on the results from quantitative research on changes in the demand for labour and adjustment of competence of immigrants to the Poznań agglomeration labour market throughout the pandemic and in the perspective of the nearest future, as well as on qualitative research conducted using the IDI (in-depth interviews) technique, carried out via the purposive sampling of 30 economically active Ukrainian migrant workers. The identified adaptation strategies are organised according to the assumptions of Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of capital(s). The capital of the researched group with respect to the labour market is treated as both the potential and resources the immigrants offer, produce, apply, and mutually convert in the implementation of their own adaptation strategies to the changing situation of the labour market. We extracted eight types of migrant adaptation strategies with respect to the labour market. These strategies differ in terms of objectives, resources, time perspectives, and other factors considered to be important from migrants’ perspectives. On the basis of interviews, we were able to assess the robustness of these strategies in view of economic shocks and identify the process of capital conversion and exchange.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a global health crisis which has quickly led to economic shocks, including those affecting the labour market
We presented strategies of adaptation of Ukrainian migrant workers to the local labour market of the Poznań agglomeration
We conducted our research during the COVID-19 pandemic and, we focused on an impact of the economic shock on migrant workers
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a global health crisis which has quickly led to economic shocks, including those affecting the labour market. Successive waves of the pandemic, and the serious economic and social challenges they have entailed, have made it difficult to forecast future development trajectories [2,3] In these circumstances, what becomes especially crucial is the monitoring of the changes occurring in the labour market. What is important is that from its onset, the pandemic’s economic and social effects have been characterized by definite social segmentation and spatial variation, which has been observed in the labour market [7,8,9] This situation adversely affects migrant workers [10], who belong to less privileged groups in the world of work [11] and have found themselves in a precarious position in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic [12]
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