Low-skilled Migrants Research Articles

Does Information Improve the Experience of Pursuing Labor Migration? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Pakistan

A large literature on international labor migration explores how to improve low-skilled migrants’ experience of pursuing and obtaining overseas employment. Much of this scholarship focuses on describing and mitigating difficult, and sometimes exploitative, conditions in the host country. Scholars have paid less attention to factors in home countries that may affect aspiring migrants’ experience of looking for overseas work. We help address this gap by conducting a field experiment in the high out-migration country of Pakistan to examine whether receiving new information about employment brokers and overseas opportunities improves aspiring migrants’ subjective and objective experience of the job-seeking process. After analyzing the effects of information on those who lack alternative sources of information, we report mixed findings. These highlight the need to think carefully about ways to improve aspiring migrants’ job-seeking experiences, especially with regard to the common assumption that if low-skilled migrants simply “knew more” — that is, had more relevant and accurate information — they would not allow themselves to have negative migration experiences; our findings suggest this is not necessarily always the case.

COVID-19 and the precarious low-skilled workforce in the European Union: Time to call the shots?

This commentary highlights the critical role of low-skilled workers who are often considered unwanted populations within the European Union (EU) migration system that privileges high-skilled migrants, while neglecting the existence of low-skilled migrants, creating unfavorable job conditions for low-skilled migrants despite their considerable contributions to EU economies. Unfortunately, this wrenching problem became evident during the pandemic. While the COVID-19 pandemic has affected all segments of the population to varying degrees in the EU, the migrant populations were adversely affected in many aspects. Specifically, low-skilled migrants are the most vulnerable to the pandemic’s secondary effects, due to multiple forms of vulnerability, risk, exploitation, and precarity shaped by their intersectional identities and membership in other marginalized groups. It has been argued that the roles of low-skilled migrants should be considered when appraising their impact and developing labor migration policies. This commentary concludes by proffering some recommendations for the EU governing entities in formulating schemes to ensure the inclusion of low-skilled migrant workforce into the public policy and labor migration system.

An Evaluation of the Impact of Migration on Human Capital Development: Evidence from the ECOWAS

Migration is recognized by many economists as a pathway to enhance living standards, yet its impact on human capital development, particularly within the ECOWAS region, remains underexplored. While prior research has predominantly examined the effects of migration on economic growth, production efficiency, and labour productivity, there exists a notable gap in understanding its effects on human capital development. Using the dynamic panel data technique within the framework of the generalized method of moment technique, the study examined the role of migration in human capital development in ECOWAS sub region over the period from 1996-2022. The study found a significant positive impact of migration, remittances and governance on human capital development. However, the impact of net-migration was negative. It concludes that migration imposes no direct cost on the government and should be encouraged. Based on the findings, the study recommends the formulation of an effective bilateral migration agreement within the ECOWAS region which should aim to facilitate skilled, semi-skilled, and low-skilled migration, accompanied by the implementation of coordinated training programs.

Correction to: Low-Skilled Migrant Labor Schemes in Japan’s Agriculture: Voices From the Field

Correction to: Low-Skilled Migrant Labor Schemes in Japan’s Agriculture: Voices From the Field

Low-Skilled Migrant Labor Schemes in Japan’s Agriculture: Voices From the Field

Abstract Despite rapid demographic decline, until recently, low-skilled migrant workers have been welcomed only through ‘side-doors’ such as technical interns (TITP). Yet pressure for change comes from two sides: the moral critique of the ‘side-door’ scheme, and the growing economic pressures of a dwindling labor force. In 2018 Japan put in place a short-term bona-fide labor scheme (Specified Skilled Worker; hereafter, SSW) in fields previously largely inaccessible to foreign labor. In combination with the TITP schemes, these workers are allowed to stay longer. But what do these changes mean, how do the farmer-employers see them, and will the SSW lead to a sustainable farm labor supply going forward? We explore stakeholders’ views of the current schemes and their opinions on how low-skilled labor migration should proceed in agriculture. Businesses are desperate for labor, but not at any cost. Under SSW, employers are being asked to change the ways they envision and treat migrant labor. The tensions between their expectations and the realities on the ground reflect the contradictions that Japan’s migration policies inherit, based in the bureaucratic fiction that only ‘skilled’ labor is necessary. Data for this paper come from qualitative interviews conducted from 2018 to 2022 in Kyoto, Aichi, and Tokyo.

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Purpose: The purpose of the academic paper is to study the tendencies and practice of applying innovative methods of managing labor potential in the hotel and restaurant business in changing environmental conditions. Theoretical framework: Considering labor shortages in the hospitality industry and the necessity to attract employees after the pandemic, the EU hospitality and restaurant businesses have been changing their methods of managing the labor workforce. Design/methodology/approach: The research methodology is based on a systematic approach to studying trends and the practice of applying innovative methods of managing labor potential in the context of the external environment’s challenges. Based on the Eurostat panel data for 2020, linear regression models of the dependence between turnovers, employment, and labor productivity in the field of hospitality in EU countries were constructed. Secondary data from interviews with owners of the largest EU hotel chains were used to identify methods of managing labor potential after the pandemic. Findings: The results demonstrate the existence of challenges toward the EU hotel and restaurant chains related to the labor shortage in the conditions of spreading the pandemic, the set of skills and low-skilled migrants. In order to solve the problems outlined, network managers hire and quickly train employees without work experience from various social categories (young people, students, specialists from other sectors, migrants, etc.). Moreover, hotels’ and restaurants’ managers offer employees housing, additional wages, social insurance, bonus payments in order to attract the workforce. Research, Practical & Social implications: The research demonstrates a positive change in the employees’ working conditions in the hospitality industry in the EU states due to the problem of their shortage, which arose with spreading the pandemic and the labor force movement to other economy sectors. Originality/value: The practical value of the research lies in the possibility of using the knowledge about the identified trends of managing labor potential in the EU hospitality industry by small and micro enterprises of the industry.

Application of Innovative Methods of Managing the Labor Potential in the Hotel and Restaurant Business Establishments

Purpose: The purpose of the academic paper is to study the tendencies and practice of applying innovative methods of managing labor potential in the hotel and restaurant business in changing environmental conditions.
 
 Theoretical framework: Considering labor shortages in the hospitality industry and the necessity to attract employees after the pandemic, the EU hospitality and restaurant businesses have been changing their methods of managing the labor workforce.
 
 Design/methodology/approach: The research methodology is based on a systematic approach to studying trends and the practice of applying innovative methods of managing labor potential in the context of the external environment’s challenges. Based on the Eurostat panel data for 2020, linear regression models of the dependence between turnovers, employment, and labor productivity in the field of hospitality in EU countries were constructed. Secondary data from interviews with owners of the largest EU hotel chains were used to identify methods of managing labor potential after the pandemic.
 
 Findings: The results demonstrate the existence of challenges toward the EU hotel and restaurant chains related to the labor shortage in the conditions of spreading the pandemic, the set of skills and low-skilled migrants. In order to solve the problems outlined, network managers hire and quickly train employees without work experience from various social categories (young people, students, specialists from other sectors, migrants, etc.). Moreover, hotels’ and restaurants’ managers offer employees housing, additional wages, social insurance, bonus payments in order to attract the workforce.
 
 Research, Practical & Social implications: The research demonstrates a positive change in the employees’ working conditions in the hospitality industry in the EU states due to the problem of their shortage, which arose with spreading the pandemic and the labor force movement to other economy sectors.
 
 Originality/value: The practical value of the research lies in the possibility of using the knowledge about the identified trends of managing labor potential in the EU hospitality industry by small and micro enterprises of the industry.

International immigration and entrepreneurship in rural areas of the Spanish Pyrenees

The academic literature on international immigration into rural areas has clearly identified two main international migration flows: retirement migration and low-skilled migration in farming. Yet, the emphasis on these two types of international immigrants has overlooked other types of incomers, such as professionals, lifestyle movers, immigrant entrepreneurs and self-employed workers who may potentially have positive impacts on local rural economies and societies. Filling a gap in the literature, this paper concentrates on immigrant entrepreneurship in the Spanish Pyrenees. In doing so, it explores connections between local economies, entrepreneurship, and lifestyle immigration. It also analyses the potential of immigrant entrepreneurs to contribute to local economic growth with the different types of capital they possess (e.g. human capital, social capital). Methodology, it is based on a fieldwork carried out in the Spanish Pyrenees between February and May 2022. Specifically, it has been carried out 31 in-depth interviews with foreign-born immigrants in two areas of the Spanish Pyrenees (Girona and Huesca). The non-representative sample is equally distributed among immigrant entrepreneurs, self-employed workers, and employees, and it was also balanced by sex and covered different ages, covering, thus, a broad spectrum of immigrants’ labour incorporations. Our results add new evidence to previous discussions on immigrant entrepreneurship and lifestyle immigration, from the viewpoint of rural mountain areas. Interviewed immigrant entrepreneurs occasionally play a key role in the creation and introduction of innovative products in very specific market niches in farming and tourism in the Pyrenees. In this way, immigrants stimulate local economies, and help to strengthen values on sustainability, community and sense of place. Yet the companies they create are often limited in both size and capital, and these circumstances generally produce only a slight impact on local economic development and job creation in the Pyrenees

Stay or emigrate? How social capital influences selective migration in Italy

ABSTRACT Internal migration in Italy has been characterised by deep changes in its composition, because of the growing share of high-skilled migrants (the emigration of which contributes to widening the internal brain drain) and the decreasing proportion of low-skilled migrants. Furthermore, recent interest in the literature in the role played by noneconomic elements in affecting migration decisions has highlighted the importance of a nonpecuniary factor, namely social capital (SC). For these reasons, this paper empirically investigates the role played by SC in interprovincial selective migration, considering migrants according to two education levels using data on 103 Italian provinces (2004–2012). The main findings reveal that provincial SC mainly contributes to reducing the migration flows of low-skilled individuals, albeit while also deterring the emigration of high-skilled individuals. Control variables confirm that better income conditions represent an important determinant of high-skilled migrants most likely because they seek to earn more, while better socioeconomic conditions such as labour market efficiency mostly influence those with a lower level of education.

Employment of highly-skilled migrants during the pandemic: Focus on internal migration in Indonesia.

This article examines whether highly-skilled migrants (HSMs) have better employment prospects compared to low-skilled migrants (LSMs), highly-skilled non-migrants (HSNMs) and low-skilled non-migrants (LSNMs) during the unsettling time of the COVID-19 pandemic. This question was explored by focusing on internal migration in Indonesia utilizing the August 2020 National Labor Force Survey, which includes several pandemic-related information. The study examined employment in terms of working status, change in hours worked and change in income. The results indicate that having high skills was very important in coping with the disruptions in the labor market, regardless of the migration status. The highly-skilled migrants were the second best (after the highly-skilled non-migrants) in coping with the crisis. As this study focused on migration, future research should focus more on short-term mobility, such as commuters, who were likely to have been more disadvantaged by mobility restrictions during the pandemic.

Relational interdependencies and the intra-EU mobility of African European Citizens

How can we better understand the puzzle of low-skilled migrants who have acquired citizenship in a European Union country, often with generous social security provision, choosing to relocate to the United Kingdom? Drawing on Elias’s figurational theory as a lens, we explore how relational interdependencies foster the mobility of low-skilled African European Citizens from European Union states to the United Kingdom. We found that African European Citizens rely on ‘piblings networks’, loose affiliations of putative relatives, to compensate for deficits in their situated social capital, facilitating relocation. The temporary stability afforded by impermanent bonds and transient associations, in constant flux in migrant communities, does not preclude integration but paradoxically promotes it by enabling an ease of connection and disconnection. Our study elucidates how these relational networks offer African European Citizens opportunities to achieve labour market integration, exercise self-efficacy, and realize desired futures; anchoring individuals in existing communities even when they are perpetually transforming.

Stereotypes, disproportions, and power asymmetries in the visual portrayal of migrants in ten countries: an interdisciplinary AI-based approach

The visual portrayal of social groups in media reinforces stereotypes and narratives, potentially leading to discriminatory actions and policies. That is particularly true for underrepresented or stigmatized groups such as migrants and is a phenomenon that varies per country. Therefore, studying the representation of migrants requires analyzing considerable amounts of visual data from different locations. This work addresses that challenge with an interdisciplinary approach characterizing the visual portrayal of migrants using Deep Learning techniques and analyzing results through the lenses of migration and gender studies. Images associated with migrants found on the internet through a search engine and from ten countries are processed to quantify and analyze the demographic and emotional information of the people portrayed. An intersectional approach is employed regarding gender, age, physical features, and emotions. The general group “migrants” is compared with the specific groups “refugees” and “expats”. Results suggest that portrayals predominantly focus on asylum seekers and associate them with poverty and risks for host societies. Moreover, the demographics in the portrayals do not match the official statistics. For expats, an over-representation of “white” and an under-representation of “asian” faces were found, while for migrants and refugees, depictions align with the demographics of low-skilled migrants. Furthermore, results evidence the power struggle underlying the “expat vs. migrant” dichotomy and its inherent colonial nature. The emotions displayed are predominantly negative and align with emotional and gender stereotypes literature. Positive emotions are more associated with women than men, and with expats than refugees and migrants. Previous results regarding the under-representation of migrant women in media are confirmed. Also, women are portrayed as younger than men, and expat women are the youngest. Children appear more in pictures associated with refugees and migrants than with expats. Likewise, migrants are often depicted as crowds, but when that is not the case, migrant and refugee women appear in larger groups than men. A higher proportion of images associated with expats do not contain people. All these effects, however, differ per location. Finally, we suggest future directions and analyze possible limitations of automatic visual content analysis using existing Deep Learning models.

The heterogenous relationship between migration and innovation: Evidence from Italy

ABSTRACT This paper offers a novel take on the relationship between migration and regional innovation by analysing the impact of both international and internal migration flows across Italian provinces, by skill level, and on three types of intellectual property rights (IPRs), namely patents, trademarks and design rights. Allowing us to capture innovation beyond technology and high-tech manufacturing, our results shed light on the relationship between different types of migrant human capital and this array of innovative outcomes. Focusing on Italian provinces in the period 2003–2012, our empirical analysis reveals that internal migration is more significantly related to innovation than international migration. Moreover, medium- and high-skilled migrants are positively associated with all three types of IPRs, while low-skilled migration has a negative association. There are also significant differences across provinces, with a clear distinction between the more economically developed Northern provinces and the rest of Italy.

Enjoying the fruit of development? Working conditions and the earnings of low-skilled internal migrants in China across two decades (1993–2015)

ABSTRACT China’s unprecedented economic growth in recent decades can largely be attributed to millions of migrant labourers that made China the ‘world’s factory’. It is well documented, however, that migrant labourers experience discrimination in the labour market. Despite China’s phenomenal economic growth, few studies have investigated whether the working conditions of low-skilled migrants have improved. In this study, we ask: in the past two decades, have disparities in working conditions and earnings between low-skilled rural-to-urban migrant workers and their urban counterparts decreased? We contrast the working conditions and earnings between migrants and urban residents who lack a high school degree and age 18–55 years using panel data, the China Health and Nutrition Survey (1993–2015), and individual fixed effects models to account for selection problems. Findings indicate that over a span of twenty years migrants and urban residents had similar trends in employment and earned incomes, but migrants’ weekly working hours and tendency to work more than legal work hours increased more than urban residents’. Working longer without earning more suggests persistent social inequality in Chinese society in general and deeper injustice among migrant workers.

The Role of Identity and Ontological (In)Security in Return Migration: an Empirical Perspective from Hungary

East–West migration has become a dominant spatial phenomenon in Europe since the step-by-step enlargement of the EU, posing considerable socio-economic and demographic challenges for sending countries. However, little is known about the geopolitics and motivations that inspire a return to the country of origin. The objective of this article is to identify the motivations for emigration, adaptation experiences and decisions of Hungarian migrants who worked in the West for a period of time and returned to Hungary, based on their skills and family status before their return. The research is based on in-depth interviews with 48 returnees and builds on the cultural identity model and the notion of ontological security. The study demonstrates the growing role of geopolitics in return migration, although its relevance differs in various groups, with clear distinctions between the high- and low-skilled migrants. The role of family as a geopolitical unit is increasing; factors like their endeavour to hold the family together, fear of children’s assimilation, loss of identity and uncertainty while abroad are important in shaping decisions to return. On the other hand, schemes to enhance the return migration of the highly skilled also build on geopolitical and nationalistic rhetoric, which appear to target experiences of ontological (in)security among migrants.

Migrants’ self-perception of technical skills and occupational realities:

The level of technical skills affects the integration of migrants into the host country’s labour market. This study investigated the relationship between Zimbabwean school-leaver migrants’ self-perception of technical skills and occupational realities. A mixed-method research design was used in this study and systematic sampling was used to select respondents for the study. Questionnaires were administered on 60 respondents to collect quantitative data whilst 19 respondents provided qualitative data using semi-structured interviews. Findings suggested that most low-skilled migrants from Zimbabwe faced several challenges including failure to secure formal employment, obtain work and residence permits because of their low-level technical skills and qualifications. This challenge further affects migrants’ social integration and economic status in the host country. Findings also revealed that there are no strategies to provide skills to migrant labour to assist them to join the mainstream labour market and reduce their life challenges in Botswana.

Differentiation from above and below: Evolving immigration policy and the integration dilemma in Singapore

Singapore is known for differentiating highly skilled and low-skilled migrants by regulating their social rights, employment, and pathways to permanent residency and citizenship. Since 2009, the city-state has made further differentiation between highly skilled migrants and natives, that is, native-born citizens. Existing studies on migrant differentiation mostly adopt a state-centric perspective. We argue that differentiation is also driven by forces from below. We introduce the concept of differential fairness to capture natives’ justification for differentiation between themselves and migrants, particularly the highly skilled. Drawing on survey data and in-depth interviews with natives and Chinese and Indian migrants, we show that natives demand for preferential policies to protect their interests. We further reveal that the measures of differentiation have created an integration dilemma, in which natives and migrants hold divergent views on fairness and expectations of migrant integration.

Public Attitudes toward Internal and Foreign Migration

AbstractWe explore attitudes toward internal and foreign migration in China using an original survey experiment. If labor-market competition drives attitudes, then residents will be opposed to migrants with comparable skill levels, regardless of migrant origin. If residents fear a dilution of national identity, then they will be more opposed to foreign than internal migration. We conduct a national survey in Mainland China, where we randomly assign respondents to answer questions about migrants with different skill levels and from either foreign countries or other provinces in China. We find that attitudes cleave over skill level, but the foreign-internal dimension is, on its own, not a salient cleavage in preferences. However, when considering high-skilled migrants, respondents are more supportive of foreign than internal migration; when considering low-skilled migrants, they are more opposed to foreign than internal migration. The results cast doubt on material explanations for attitudes toward migration and suggest a reevaluation of cultural threat arguments that privilege national borders.

City Size and Permanent Settlement Intention: Evidence from Rural-Urban Migrants in China.

The location choice and livelihoods of rural-urban migrants are critical to the sustainable development of cities. By using data from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) in 2017, this paper extant the Rosen–Roback’s model by adding factors of urban social network and air pollution to the function of the individual utility of migrants. Both the Probit Model and IV estimates imply evidence of an inverse U-shaped pattern of city size and migrants’ permanent settlement in urban China. This view proves that Chinese migrants like to settle permanently in large cities, but not mega-cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai. The internal mechanism is explained by the agglomeration economies and the crowing effect brought by city size. In mega-cities, the attractiveness of the city caused by wage premium cannot offset the combined repulsive force caused by the high housing price, bad urban social network, air pollution, and health deterioration. It is worth noting that air pollution has a significant negative impact on the settlement intention of migrants, such as health conditions and precipitation. Besides, there is heterogeneity among high-skilled migrants and low-skilled migrants in different city sizes. Our findings enhance the understanding of “Escape from megacities” in China and have implications for the reform of the housing security system and the exploration of the urbanization path.

Health outcomes in low-skilled labour migrants

Health outcomes in low-skilled labour migrants