Strategies for recruiting highly skilled migrants from India and China: a case study of firms in Sweden

Ongoing transnationalization processes have deeply affected contemporary societies. One important aspect of this transformation is that people’s skills and dispositions change, thus the ways they think about, perceive and evaluate the world are altered. In order to capture these changes conceptually, the notion of transnational habitus has emerged, especially within migration and inequality studies. Reviewing this research literature, however, we argue that this notion only partly captures the different ways in which transnationalization impacts individuals. We therefore refer to the criticism of Bourdieu’s habitus concept by Lahire and conceive of habitus as a configuration of dispositions, which may be more or less transnationalized. Combining this conceptual discussion with a biographical case study from a research project on highly-skilled migrants, allows us to theorize how specific dispositions are activated or toned down over time in relation to specific field settings. As a result, we can highlight how different kinds of dispositions may be dissimilarly affected by transnationalization processes and how related habitual transformations may be seen as a gradual development. Rather than generally referring to the more static notion of transnational habitus, conceiving of habitus as a configuration of dispositions and contexts thus facilitates a more detailed and processual understanding of the interplay between dispositions and specific field settings in relation to transnationalization.

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Highly skilled migration in the urban Arctic: a Norwegian case study on skilled migrant labour market integration

Polar Record ◽

10.1017/s0032247412000071 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 254-258 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Trine Medby Fossland

Keyword(s):

Labour Market ◽

Market Integration ◽

Skilled Migration ◽

Labour Market Integration ◽

Highly Skilled Migration ◽

Local Labour ◽

Highly Skilled Migrants ◽

Labour Market Participation ◽

Highly Skilled

ABSTRACTArctic Norway is a region with a shortage of highly skilled professionals and international expertise, in many work sectors. Fast growing cites attract people from other regions and also high skilled migrants. It is a paradox that skilled migrants often fail to get qualified work in the local labour market. To understand this and to capture the complexity of labour market participation, this article draws on interviews with recruitment agencies and highly skilled migrants, attending a recruitment programme initiated by the ‘Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry in Norway’. This paper draws on recent literature on highly skilled migration and analyses the complex and relational sides of labour market integration for skilled migrants in an urban Arctic town.

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Gendered differences in emigration and mobility perspectives among European researchers working abroad

MIGRATION LETTERS ◽

10.33182/ml.v7i1.178 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 33-41 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Elisabeth Scheibelhofer

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Qualitative Research ◽

Qualitative Study ◽

Social Relations ◽

The United States ◽

Research Strategy ◽

The Future ◽

Highly Skilled

This paper focuses on gendered mobilities of highly skilled researchers working abroad. It is based on an empirical qualitative study that explored the mobility aspirations of Austrian scientists who were working in the United States at the time they were interviewed. Supported by a case study, the paper demonstrates how a qualitative research strategy including graphic drawings sketched by the interviewed persons can help us gain a better understanding of the gendered importance of social relations for the future mobility aspirations of scientists working abroad.

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Stimulating Flexible Citizenship: The Impact of Dutch and Indian Migration Policies on the Lives of Highly Skilled Indian Migrants in the Netherlands

Citizenship and globalisation research papers ◽

10.2478/jcgs-2019-0008 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 1-13

Author(s):

Katherine Kirk ◽

Ellen Bal

Keyword(s):

The Netherlands ◽

Transnational Migration ◽

Unique Contribution ◽

Indian Diaspora ◽

Migration Literature ◽

Corporate Rights ◽

Highly Skilled Migrants ◽

Highly Skilled ◽

Migration Theories ◽

The Impact

AbstractThis paper explores the relationship between migration and integration policies in the Netherlands, diaspora policies in India, and the transnational practices of Indian highly skilled migrants to the Netherlands. We employ anthropological transnational migration theories (e.g., Ong 1999; Levitt and Jaworsky 2007) to frame the dynamic interaction between a sending and a receiving country on the lives of migrants. This paper makes a unique contribution to migration literature by exploring the policies of both sending and receiving country in relation to ethnographic data on migrants. The international battle for brains has motivated states like the Netherlands and India to design flexible migration and citizenship policies for socially and economically desirable migrants. Flexible citizenship policies in the Netherlands are primarily concerned with individual and corporate rights and privileges, whereas Indian diaspora policies have been established around the premise of national identity.

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Skilled Migrants in the Swedish Labour Market: An Analysis of Employment, Income and Occupational Status

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13063428 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. 3428

Author(s):

Nahikari Irastorza ◽

Pieter Bevelander

Keyword(s):

Labour Market ◽

Descriptive Analysis ◽

Occupational Status ◽

Division Of Labour ◽

Skilled Immigrants ◽

Highly Educated ◽

Highly Skilled Migrants ◽

Highly Skilled ◽

Integration Of Immigrants ◽

Employment Rates

In a globalised world with an increasing division of labour, the competition for highly skilled individuals—regardless of their origin—is growing, as is the value of such individuals for national economies. Yet the majority of studies analysing the economic integration of immigrants shows that those who are highly skilled also have substantial hurdles to overcome: their employment rates and salaries are lower and they face a higher education-to-occupation mismatch compared to highly skilled natives. This paper contributes to the paucity of studies on the employment patterns of highly skilled immigrants to Sweden by providing an overview of the socio-demographic characteristics, labour-market participation and occupational mobility of highly educated migrants in Sweden. Based on a statistical analysis of register data, we compare their employment rates, salaries and occupational skill level and mobility to those of immigrants with lower education and with natives. The descriptive analysis of the data shows that, while highly skilled immigrants perform better than those with a lower educational level, they never catch up with their native counterparts. Our regression analyses confirm these patterns for highly skilled migrants. Furthermore, we find that reasons for migration matter for highly skilled migrants’ employment outcomes, with labour migrants having better employment rates, income and qualification-matched employment than family reunion migrants and refugees.

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Physical activity, sport and transnational migrant spaces in Shanghai, China: (Re)crafting contours of a metropolitan cityscape

International Review for the Sociology of Sport ◽

10.1177/10126902211009444 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 101269022110094

Author(s):

Geoffery Zain Kohe ◽

Daniel Nehring ◽

Mengwei Tu

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Social Life ◽

Virtual Community ◽

Community Formation ◽

Urban Citizenship ◽

Transnational Mobility ◽

Highly Skilled Migrants ◽

Highly Skilled ◽

Globally Attractive ◽

Skilled Migrant

This study examines associations between sport/physical activity space, community formation and social life among Shanghai’s highly skilled migrant demographic. There is limited illustration of the roles sport and physical exercise provision and spaces play in this migrant cohort’s lives, community formation and participation in their host societies. Yet, such evidence is of value in determining social policy, urban development and community engagement initiatives. Using a mixed-methods approach involving public policy critique, cultural and spatial analysis and virtual community investigation, this article provides a conceptual exploration of ways sport and physical activity frame individual and collective migrant experiences, and how such experiences enmesh with wider geo-spatial, political and domestic context. Amid Shanghai’s presentation as a globally attractive space, we reveal some of the complexities of the cityscape as an emblematic location for highly mobile, highly skilled migrants. A confluence of ideals about urban citizenship, social participation and localised physical activity/sport-based (inter)action, we note, articulate Shanghai anew, and contribute to debates on highly skilled transnational mobility and community formation.

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