New forms of intra-European migration, labour market dynamics and social inequality in Europe

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Verwiebe ◽  
Laura Wiesböck ◽  
Roland Teitzer

This article deals mainly with new forms of Intra-European migration, processes of integration and inequality, and the dynamics of emerging transnational labour markets in Europe. We discuss these issues against the background of fundamental changes which have been taking place on the European continent over the past two decades. Drawing on available comparative European data, we examine, in a first step, whether the changes in intra-European migration patterns have been accompanied by a differentiation of the causes of migration. In a second step, we discuss the extent to which new forms of transnational labour markets have been emerging within Europe and their effects on systems of social stratification.

Race & Class ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tazreena Sajjad

Through a critical examination of European immigration policy and using the case of Afghan asylum seekers in the European continent, this article argues that the politics of labelling and the criminalisation and securitisation of migration undermine the protection framework for the globally displaced. However, the issue goes deeper than state politicking to circumvent responsibilities under international law. The construction of migrants as victims at best, and as cultural and security threats at worst, particularly in the case of Muslim refugees, not only assists in their dehumanisation, it also legitimises actions taken against them through the perpetuation of a particular discourse on the European Self and the non-European Other. At one level, such a dynamic underscores the long-standing struggle of Europe to articulate its identity within the economic, demographic and cultural anxieties produced by the dynamics of globalisation. At another, these existing constructions, which hierarchise ‘worthiness’, are limited in their reflection of the complex realities that force people to seek refuge. Simultaneously, the labels, and the discourse of which they are part, make it possible for Europe to deny asylum claims and expedite deportations while being globally accepted as a human rights champion. This process also makes it possible for Europe to categorise turbulent contexts such as Afghanistan as a ‘safe country’, even at a time when the global refugee protection regime demands creative expansion. Ultimately, the politics of European migration policy illustrates the evolution of European Orientalist discourse – utilised in the past to legitimise colonisation and domination, now used to legitimise incarceration and deportation.


1970 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Boston

This article explores three main issues. First, it examines the changes which have occurred in the nature and scope of state intervention in pay fixing within the OECD during the past two decades. Second, it outlines the strategies which have been adopted recently by many western govern1nents to enhance wage flexibility and im.prove the operation of labour markets. Third, it critically assesses the merits of the Calmfors-Driffill thesis concerning the relationship between wage bargaining systems and macroeconomic performance. It is argued that there are good theoretical reasons as well as some strong empirical evidence to support the Calmfors-Driffill thesis, but that bargaining structures are only one of a multitude of factors which influence economic outcomes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Giraud ◽  
Arnaud Lechevalier

In this article, we define the ‘grey zone’ as the proliferation of categories of employment and the growing dissonance between those categories and the realities of the labour market. Against the background of the weakening of the standard employment relationship, and going beyond the dualism of the labour market, there are three processes by which the employment norm is differentiated: the institutionalisation of new employment categories by public authorities, the influence of collective norms on the framing of employment categories by organised groups such as unions and employers’ associations, and the uses of those norms by social actors such as companies. In this article, we first describe the evolution of the German labour market over the past 20 years. We then shed light on the dynamics of the grey zones of employment in Germany by drawing on two strands – self-employment and traineeships – and by distinguishing the three differentiation mechanisms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Gasiukova ◽  
Ovsey Shkaratan

The authors focus on the category of precarity that refers to the phenomenon of dynamic instability resulting from income fluctuation and frequent job changes. Precarious workers view their situation as deviating from the norm and standards of living typical of their immediate circles. Thus, the term precarity describes a situation which is beyond the scope of the labour market and not confined to categories representing non-standard employment relations. As both objective and subjective parameters need to be taken into consideration in precarity studies, the conceptualisation of the phenomenon should not be subject to rigid universalist categories. Identification criteria prove to be contextual. The authors are convinced that the term precarity denotes a fundamentally new phenomenon not reduced to employment insecurity situations of the past. The article demonstrates that it is wrong to equate the modern situation of precarity with the position of an exploited proletarian worker, as the structural components of the labour market have changed, and the experience of the previous generation has affected the development of employment standards used as a benchmark today. The concept of precarity refers to a phenomenon without any precedents in the past and is highly relevant for studying modern labour markets.


2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (136) ◽  
pp. 339-356
Author(s):  
Tobias Wölfle ◽  
Oliver Schöller

Under the term “Hilfe zur Arbeit” (aid for work) the federal law of social welfare subsumes all kinds of labour disciplining instruments. First, the paper shows the historical connection of welfare and labour disciplining mechanisms in the context of different periods within capitalist development. In a second step, against the background of historical experiences, we will analyse the trends of “Hilfe zur Arbeit” during the past two decades. It will be shown that by the rise of unemployment, the impact of labour disciplining aspects of “Hilfe zur Arbeit” has increased both on the federal and on the municipal level. For this reason the leverage of the liberal paradigm would take place even in the core of social rights.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 26-36
Author(s):  
A. V. Topilin ◽  
A. S. Maksimova

The article reflects the results of a study of the impact of migration on regional labour markets amidst a decline in the working-age population in Russia. After substantiating the relevance of the issues under consideration, the authors propose a methodological analysis toolkit, the author’s own methodology for calculating the coefficients of permanent long-term external and internal labour migration in regional labour markets, and the coefficient of total migration burden. In addition, the authors provide an overview of the information and statistical base of the study. According to current migration records, data of Rosstat sample surveys on Russian labour migrants leaving for employment in other regions, regional labour resources balance sheets based on the calculated coefficients of labour market pressures, the authors analyzed the impact of migration on the Russian regional labour markets over the past decade. It revealed an increasing role of internal labour migration in many regions, primarily in the largest economic agglomerations and oil and gas territories. At the same time, the role of external labour migration remains stable and minimum indicators of the contribution of permanent migration to the formation of regional labour markets continue to decrease. It has been established that irrational counter flows of external and internal labour migration have developed, which indicates not only an imbalance in labour demand and supply but also a discrepancy between the qualitative composition of migrants and the needs of the economy. It is concluded that the state does not effectively regulate certain types of migration, considering its impact on the labour market. The authors justified the need for conducting regular household sample surveys according to specific programs to collect information about labour migrants and the conditions for using their labour. In addition to the current migration records, using interregional analysis, this information allows making more informed decisions at the federal and regional levels to correct the negative situation that has developed in the regional labour markets even before the coronavirus pandemic had struck.


Author(s):  
Marcin Piatkowski

In this chapter I explain why Poland and most countries in Eastern Europe have always lagged behind Western Europe in economic development. I discuss why in the past the European continent split into two parts and how Western and Eastern Europe followed starkly different developmental paths. I then demonstrate how Polish oligarchic elites built extractive institutions and how they adopted ideologies, cultures, and values, which undermined development from the late sixteenth century to 1939. I also describe how the elites created a libertarian country without taxes, state capacity, and rule of law, and how this ‘golden freedom’ led to Poland’s collapse and disappearance from the map of Europe in 1795. I argue that Polish extractive society was so well established that it could not reform itself from the inside. It was like a black hole, where the force of gravity is so strong that the light could not come out.


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