Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T04:14:06.822Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - How Precarity Is Threaded into Migration Rules

The Cases of the UK, Germany, and Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2024

By
Dimitria Groutsis ,
Shireen Kanji  and
Joana Vassilopoulou
Edited by
Elina Meliou ,
Joana Vassilopoulou  and
Mustafa F. Ozbilgin
Elina Meliou
Affiliation:
Brunel University
Joana Vassilopoulou
Affiliation:
Brunel University
Mustafa F. Ozbilgin
Affiliation:
Brunel University
Get access

Summary

This chapter investigates the precarious arrangements embedded in the systems and processes of migration management across three different country contexts: the UK, Germany, and Australia. The country comparison shows how precarious workplace/worker and societal arrangements have been woven into the systems of migration management (Paret and Gleeson ; Vosko ). The examination employs an historical methodology to show how approaches to migration management create a racialised precarity in the destination country generally; and more specifically in the destination country labour market where different groups of migrant workers are channelled into and toil in the least favourable areas of the labour market. Accordingly, we shed light on the rules underscoring and the implications of the process of migrant worker acceptance, settlement, and integration in a new land and labour market.

Keywords

migrationCross-country ComparisonPrecarityHistoryRacismSegmentationExclusionMigration PolicyIntegrationHostile Environment
Type
Chapter
Information
Diversity and Precarious Work During Socio-Economic Upheaval
Exploring the Missing Link
 , pp. 213 - 239
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adamy, W. (2012). Vollzeitbeschäftigte mit Berufsausbildung im Niedriglohnsektor. Hg. v. DGB. Online verfügbar unter www.dgb.de/themen/++co++ad7aedf2-33c1-11e2-ab3a-00188b4dc422, zuletzt aktualisiert am, 21, 2012.Google Scholar
Ahmad, A. (2008). Dead men working: time and space in London’s (‘illegal’) migrant economy. Work Employment and Society, 22(2): 301–318.Google Scholar
Al Ariss, A., Vassilopoulou, J., Groutsis, D., & Özbilgin, M. (2012). A multilevel understanding of the careers of minority ethnic elites. In: Global Elites. The Opaque Nature of Transnational Policy Determination. Basingstoke, Palgrave (Eds Kakabadse, & Kakabadse, ).Google Scholar
Al Ariss, A., Vassilopoulou, J., Özbilgin, M., & Game, A. (2013). Understanding career experiences of skilled minority ethnic workers in France & Germany. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(6): 1236–1256.Google Scholar
Alberti, G. (2014). Mobility strategies, ‘mobility differentials’ and ‘transnational exit’: the experiences of precarious migrants in London’s hospitality jobs. Work Employment and Society, 28(6): 865–881.Google Scholar
Alberti, G., Bessa, I., Trappmann, V. Umney, C. (2018). In, Against and Beyond Precarity: Work in Insecure Times. Work Employment and Society, 32(3): 447–457.Google Scholar
Anderson, B. (2010). ‘Migration, Immigration Controls and the Fashioning of Precarious Workers’. Work, Employment and Society, 24(2): 300–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, B. (2013). Us and Them? The Dangerous Politics of Immigration Control. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Arendt, H. (1944). Race-Thinking before Racism. The Review of Politics, 6(1): 36–73. Retrieved July 1, 2021, from www.jstor.org/stable/1404080.Google Scholar
BBC. (2010a). Merkel says German multicultural society has failed. Available at: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11559451 (August 2020).Google Scholar
BBC. (2010b). Germany’s charged immigration debate. Available at: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11532699 (August 2020).Google Scholar
Berlin-Institute für Bevölkerung und Entwicklung (Hrsg.). (2009). Ungenutzte Potenziale. Zur Lage der Integration in Deutschland. Berlin: Berlin-Institute für Bevölkerung und Entwicklung.Google Scholar
Betti, E. (2018). Historicizing Precarious Work: Forty Years of Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities. IRSH, 63(2018): 273–319Google Scholar
Boucher, A. (2019). Measuring Migrant Worker Rights Violations in Practice: The Example of Temporary Skilled Visas in Australia. Journal of Industrial Relations, 61(2): 277–301. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022185618783001.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1998). Acts of Resistance: Against the New Myths of Our Time. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Bulpitt, J. (1992). Conservative leaders and the ‘Euro-ratchet’: Five doses of scepticism. Political Quarterly, 63(3): 258–275.Google Scholar
Bundesagentur für Arbeit. (2021). Berichte: Arbeitsmarkt kompakt: Auswirkungen der Migration auf den deutschen Arbeitsmarkt (Monatszahlen). Bundesagentur für Arbeit Statistik/Arbeitsmarktberichterstattung.Google Scholar
Butler, J. (2009). Frames of War London: Verso.Google Scholar
Castles, S., Korac, M., Vasta, E., and Vertovec, S. (2001). Integration: Mapping the Field. Report, Centre for Migration and Policy Research and Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
CEDA. (2019). Effects of Temporary Migration: Shaping Australia’s Society and Economy. Melbourne: Committee for Economic Development of Australia.Google Scholar
Chaney, P. (2020). Examining Political Parties’ Record on Refugees and Asylum Seekers in UK Party Manifestos 1964–2019: The Rise of Territorial Approaches to Welfare? Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 0(0): 1–23.Google Scholar
Clark, K, Drinkwater, S. (2008). The labour market performance of recent migrants. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 24: 495–516.Google Scholar
Colic-Peisker, V. (2009). Visibility, settlement success and life satisfaction in three refugee communities in Australia. Ethnicities, 9(2): 175–1999.Google Scholar
Colic-Peisker, V. and Tilbury, F. (2003). ‘Active’ and ‘passive’ resettlement: the influence of support services and refugees’ own resources on resettlement style. International Migration, 41(50): 61–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colic-Peisker, V. and Tilbury, F. (2007). Refugees and Employment: The Effect of Visible Difference on Discrimination: Final Report. Murdoch University, Western Australia. www.cscr.murdoch.edu.au/_docs/refugeesandemployment.pdf.Google Scholar
Collins, J. (1984). ‘Immigration and class: The Australian experience’, In , G. Bottomley, and , M. de Lepervanche, (eds), Ethnicity, Class and Gender in Australia, Sydney: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Collins, J. (1991). Migrant Hands in a Distant Land, Australia’s Post-War Immigration, Sydney London: Pluto Press, Second Edition.Google Scholar
Consterdine, E. (2017). Community Versus Commonwealth: Reappraising the 1971 Immigration Act. Immigrants & Minorities, 35(1): 1–20, DOI: 10.1080/02619288.2016.1241712.Google Scholar
Consterdine, E. (2020). Parties matter but institutions live on: Labour’s legacy on Conservative immigration policy and the neoliberal consensus. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 22(2): 182–201. doi:10.1177/1369148119890253.Google Scholar
Consterdine, E. & Hampshire, J. (2014) Immigration policy under New Labour: Exploring a critical juncture. Br Polit, 9: 275–296. https://doi.org/10.1057/bp.2013.19.Google Scholar
Deakin, N. (1969). The British Nationality Act of 1948: A brief study in the political mythology of race relations. Race, 11(1): 77–83. doi:10.1177/030639686901100106.Google Scholar
Degler, E. & Liebig, T. (2017). Finding their Way. Labour Market Integration of Refugees in Germany. OECD. www.oecd.org/migration. Accessed, 17, 11–28.Google Scholar
Demireva, N. V. (2011). New Migrants in the UK: Employment Patterns and Occupational Attainment. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 37(4): 637–655Google Scholar
Deutsche Welle. (2020). German population of migrant background rises to 21 million. Available at: www.dw.com/en/german-population-of-migrant-background-rises-to-21-million/a-54356773 (August 2021).Google Scholar
Deutsche Welle. (2021). Meet Germany’s ‘Querdenker’ COVID protest movement. Available at: www.dw.com/en/meet-germanys-querdenker-covid-protest-movement/a-57049985, (accessed April, 2023)Google Scholar
El-Enany, N. (2020). (B)ordering Britain: Law, Race and Empire. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526145420.Google Scholar
Esser, H. (2002). Kulturelle Pluralisierung und strukturelle Assimilation. Das Proble der ethnischen Schichtung. Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, 7(2): 97–108.Google Scholar
Esser, H. (2006). Migration, language and integration. AKI Research Review 4 Arbeitsstelle Interkulturelle Konflikte und gesellschaftliche Integration (AKI), Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB).Google Scholar
Evans, R., Saunders, K., and Cronin, K. (1975). Exclusion, Exploitation and Extermination, Sydney: ANZ Books.Google Scholar
Fachkommission Integrationsfähigkeit. (2021). Bericht der Fachkommission der Bundesregierung zu den Rahmenbedingungen der Integrationsfähigkeit. Available at: www.fachkommission-integrationsfaehigkeit.de/resource/blob/1786706/1787474/5a5d62f9636b87f10fd0e271ba326471/bericht-de-data.pdf?download=1 (September 2021).Google Scholar
Fozdar, F. E. (2014). ‘Aussie Cows and Asylum Seekers: Cartooning About Two Key Political Issues’ In , Renate Brosch, and , Kylie Crane, (eds.) Visualising Australia: Images, Icons, Imaginations (pp. 135–149). Germany: WVT Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.Google Scholar
Griffiths, M., Yeo, C. (2021). The UK’s hostile environment: Deputising immigration control. Critical Social Policy, 41(4): 521–674. doi:10.1177/0261018320980653.Google Scholar
Groutsis, D. (2006a). ‘Globalisation and labour mobility: Migrants making spaces, migrants changing spaces’ In , M Hearn, and , G Michelson, (eds.) Rethinking Work: Time, space and discourse (pp. 144–164). Melbourne, VIC: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Groutsis, D. (2006b). Geography and credentialism: the assessment and accreditation of overseas-trained doctors. Health Sociology Review, 15(1): 59–70.Google Scholar
Guentner, S., Lukes, S., Stanton, R., Vollmer, B. A., Wilding, J. (2016). Bordering practices in the UK welfare system. Critical Social Policy, 36(3):391–411. doi:10.1177/0261018315622609.Google Scholar
Hansen, R. (1968). The Historical Journal, 42(3): 809–834. Retrieved July 4, 2021, from www.jstor.org/stable/3020922.Google Scholar
Hansen, R. (1999a). The Kenyan Asians, British Politics, and the Commonwealth Immigrants Act.Google Scholar
Hansen, R. (1999b). The Politics of Citizenship in 1940s Britain: The British Nationality Act. Twentieth Century British History, 10(1): 76.Google Scholar
Hansen, R. (2014). Paradigm and policy shifts: British immigration policy, 1997–2011. In: Hollifield.Google Scholar
ILO. (2020). The migrant pay gap: Understanding wage differences between migrants and nationals. www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---migrant/documents/briefingnote/wcms_763796.pdfGoogle Scholar
InfoMigrants. (2020). Racism on the rise in Germany. Available at: www.infomigrants.net/en/post/25252/racism-on-the-rise-in-germany (August 2021).Google Scholar
Jayasuriya, L., and Cook, J. (1988). A struggle for equality In V. Burgmann and J. Lee, (eds.) Making a Life: A People’s History of Australia Since 1788. Fitzroy Victoria: McPhee Gribble/Penguin.Google Scholar
Joseph, E. (2020). Critical Race Theory and Inequality in the Labour Market: Racial Stratification in Ireland. Manchester: Manchester University PressGoogle Scholar
Jupp, J. (1996). Understanding Australian Multiculturalism, Centre for Immigration and Multicultural Studies Australian National University/Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, ACT.Google Scholar
Keating, C. (1994). Race and Sex Discrimination in Employment and Training, ANESBWA Policy Paper 3, Prepared for, and presented at the Association of Non-English Speaking Background Women of Australia conference, ANESBWA (April) 1994.Google Scholar
Ker-Lindsay, J. (2018). Turkey’s EU accession as a factor in the 2016 Brexit referendum. Turkish Studies, 19(1): 1–22. DOI: 10.1080/14683849.2017.1366860.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keulen, S., and Kroeze, R. (2012). Understanding Management Gurus and Historical Narratives: The benefits of a historic turn in management and organization studies. Management and Organizational History, 7(2): 171–189.Google Scholar
Khoo, S. E., Voigt-Graf, C. Hugo, G. and McDonald, P. (2003). Temporary Skilled migration to Australia: The 457 Visa Sub-class. People and Place, 11(4): 27–40.Google Scholar
Koleth, E. (2010). Multiculturalism: a review of Australian policy statements and recent debates in Australia and overseas, Research Paper No. 6, 2010–11, Parliament of Australia, Department of Parliamentary Services.Google Scholar
Koser, K. (2017). A Global Compact on Refugees: The Role of Australia (August 2017). Australia: Lowy Institute.Google Scholar
Lawrence, B. S. (1984). Historical Perspective: Using the Past to Study the Present. The Academy of Management Review, 9/2: 307–312.Google Scholar
Lukas, W. (2011). Migranten im Niedriglohnsektor unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Geduldeten und Bleibeberechtigten.Google Scholar
MacGregor, M. (2021). Germany: Two-thirds of Syrian refugees unable to support themselves. Available at: www.infomigrants.net/en/post/33597/germany-twothirds-of-syrian-refugees-unable-to-support-themselves (September 2021).Google Scholar
Mares, P. (2012). Temporary migration and its implications for Australia, www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/~/~/link.aspx?_id=06B96F584FD0483D9F369F0B5186C6A9&_z=zGoogle Scholar
Mares, P. 2016. Not Quite Australian: How Temporary Migration is Changing the Nation (pp. 207–257). Melbourne, VIC: Text Publishing CompanyGoogle Scholar
Markus, A., McDonald, P.F., and Jupp, J. (2009). Australia’s Immigration Revolution. Crows Nest, N.S.W: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Markus, M. (1979). Fear and Hatred: Purifying Australian and California 1850–1901, Sydney: Hale and Iremonger.Google Scholar
Martin, J. P. L., Orrenius, P. (eds.) Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective (pp. 199–220). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Mayer, D. (2003). Non-Germans under the Third Reich. The Nazi Judicial and Administrative System in Germany and Occupied Eastern Europe, with Special Regard to Occupied Poland, 1939–1945. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.Google Scholar
McKay, J. (2008). The Passage of the 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act, a Case-Study of Backbench Power. Observatoire de la société britannique, 6: 89–108.Google Scholar
Mediendienste Integration. (2021). Corona-Pandemie und Migration. Available at: https://mediendienst-integration.de/migration/corona-pandemie.html (September 2021).Google Scholar
Modood, T. (2007). Multiculturalism: A Civic Idea. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Mulvey, G. (2010). When Policy Creates Politics: the Problematizing of Immigration and the Consequences for Refugee Integration in the UK, Journal of Refugee Studies, 23(4): 437–462. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feq045Google Scholar
OECD. (2016). Making Integration Work: Refugees and Others in Need of Protection. Paris: OECD Publishing.Google Scholar
Olusoga, D. (2016). Black and British A Forgotten History. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Parekh, B. (2000). The Future of Multi- Ethnic Britain. The Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain. London: Runnymede Trust/Profile Books.Google Scholar
Paret, M., and Gleeson, S. (2016). Precarity and agency through a migration lens. Citizenship Studies, 20(3–4): 277–294.Google Scholar
Parmar, A. (2020). Borders as Mirrors: Racial Hierarchies and Policing Migration. Critical Criminology, 28, 175–192.Google Scholar
Paterson, T. (2015). Angela Merkel: ‘It’s our damned duty to help refugees’. Available at: www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/angela-merkel-it-s-our-damned-dutyhelp-refugees-a6686631.html (August 2021).Google Scholar
Patmore, G. (1991). Australian Labour History, Cheshire Melbourne: Longman.Google Scholar
Phillips, N. and Hardy, C. (1997). Managing Multiple Identities: Discourse, Legitimacy and Resources in the UK Refugee System. Organization [May 1997], 4(2): 159–185.Google Scholar
Pilgrim, D. (2000). www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/antiblack/picaninny/homepage.htm.Google Scholar
Rafferty, A. (2012). Ethnic Penalties in Graduate Level Over-education, Unemployment and Wages: Evidence from Britain. Work, Employment and Society, 26(6): 987–1006. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017012458021Google Scholar
Refugee Council of Australia. (2010). Economic, Civic and Social Contributions of Refugees and Humanitarian Entrants: A Literature Review. Canberra: Department of Immigration and Citizenship.Google Scholar
Reliefweb. (2019). Germany. Integration of Refugees into Labour Market Deemed Success – with Limitations. Available at: https://reliefweb.int/report/germany/germany-integration-refugees-labour-market-deemed-success-limitations (September 2021).Google Scholar
Scanlon Foundation. (2020). Social Cohesion Index, Accessed January 20, 2021.Google Scholar
Schaffer, G. (2006). Re-Thinking the History of Blame: Britain and Minorities during the Second World War. National Identities, 8(4): 401–419, DOI: 10.1080/14608940601052065.Google Scholar
Schinkel, W. 2018. Against ‘Immigrant Integration’: For an End to Neocolonial Knowledge Production. Comparative Migration Studies, 6(1): 31. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-018-0095-1.Google Scholar
Sherrell, H. (2019). ‘Migration – Permanent and Temporary Visa Trends’. In Briefing Book: Key Issues for the 46th Parliament (pp. 128–131). Canberra, ACT: Parliament of Australia.Google Scholar
Statista. (2022). Gesamtzahl der offiziell gezählten Kriegsflüchtlinge aus der Ukraine in Deutschland im April 2022 (Stand: 29. April) Available at: https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1294820/umfrage/kriegsfluechtlinge-aus-der-ukraine-in-deutschland/ Accessed May 2, 2022.Google Scholar
Taksa, L. & Groutsis, D. (2010). Managing Diverse Commodities: From Factory Fodder to Business Asset. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 20(2): 77–98.Google Scholar
Tatli, A., Vassilopoulou, J., Ariss, A. & Özbilgin, M. (2012). The role of regulatory and temporal context in the construction of diversity discourses: the case of the UK. France and Germany. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 18/4: 293–308.Google Scholar
Thompson, H. (2017). Inevitability and contingency: The political economy of Brexit. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 19(3): 434–449.Google Scholar
Tomlinson, S. (2018) Enoch Powell, empires, immigrants and education. Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(1): 1–14, DOI: 10.1080/13613324.2017.1365055.Google Scholar
Underhill, E., Groutsis, D., van den Broek, D., Rimmer, M. (2020). Organising Across Borders: Mobilising temporary migrant labour in Australian Food Production. Journal of Industrial Relations.Google Scholar
UNHCR. (2015). The Sea Route to Europe: The Mediterranean Passage in the Age of Refugees. Geneva.Google Scholar
Vassilopoulou, J. (2011). Understanding the habitus of managing ethnic diversity in Germany. A multilevel relational study (Doctoral dissertation, University of East Anglia).Google Scholar
Vassilopoulou, J., Merx, A. & Bruchhagen, V. (2019). An overview of diversity policies in the public and private sector that seek to increase the representation of migrants and ethnic minorities in the workplace: the case of Germany. In: Race discrimination and the management of ethnic diversity at work. European countries perspectives. Emerald Publisher.Google Scholar
Vassilopoulou, J., Özbilgin, M., Tatli, A. & Jonsen, K. (2014). Multiculturalism in organizations. In: Diversity ideologies in organizations. Taylor-Francis (Eds Thomas, Plaut & Tran.).Google Scholar
Virdee, S. (2019). Racialized capitalism: An account of its contested origins and consolidation. The Sociological Review. 67(1): 3–27. doi:10.1177/0038026118820293Google Scholar
Vosko, L. (2010). Managing the Margins: Gender, Citizenship, and the International Regulation of Precarious Employment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wadsworth, J. (2014). Immigration, the European Union and the UK Labour Market. Centre for Economic Performance Policy Paper Number CEPPA015. https://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/abstract.asp?index=4437Google Scholar
Willis, R. (1982). Issues in Australian History. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire.Google Scholar
Wright, C. F., Groutsis, D. and Kaabel, A. (forthcoming). Regulating Migrant Worker Temporariness in Australia: The Role of Employment and Post-Arrival Support Policies. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.Google Scholar
Zald, M. (2002). Spinning Disciplines: Critical Management Studies in the Context of the Transformation of Management Education. Organization, 9: 365–385.Google Scholar
Zetter, R. (2012). Are refugees an economic burden or benefit? Forced Migration Review, 41(1): 50–52.Google Scholar
Zou, M. (2015). The legal construction of hyper-dependence and hyper-precarity in migrant work relations. International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, 31(2): 141–162.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×