Migration and Precarity in Labour Market: Case of Cameroonian Migrants in Turkey

Abstract

Migration has become more than ever an important issue on the media, political sphere and object of many academic works. The year 2015 was punctuated by a series of migration crisis, the UNFPA reported that 3.3 per cent of the world's population lived outside their country of origin. Currently, Turkey plays an important role in international migration. This paper is set to look at migration and precarity concepts in Turkish labour market. Previous researches focused on Africans in general migrating to Turkey but this research tackles the specific case of Cameroonians. The main purpose is to perceive the working condition of Cameroonian migrants workers in Istanbul. This article provides an insight on the rush of Cameroonian migrants to Turkey and contributes in understanding the precarious nature on the Turkish labor market. This involves the social, economic and legal framework of Cameroonian workers. It has been designed to investigate specific aspects such as their educational backgrounds, working conditions, ways of recruitment, professional inter-relations, legal status, challenges and vulnerability as foreign workers. The fieldwork took place from the 18th of March to 23rd, 2016. Through an empirical study 16 structured and semi structured interviews were conducted in various districts in Istanbul.