In this paper, author Sónia Pereira explores the role of migrants in the labour market to understand how migrants influence their working conditions and their willingness to engage in labour struggles and negotiations.
Using data collection as part of the THEMIS – Theorising the evolution of European Migration Systems – project, the paper finds that despite the qualifications of migrants surveyed, migration leads to employment in the low and unskilled segments of the labour market, and limited career progression.
The paper finds that migrant workers tend to have a submissive role, instea employing individual strategies for self-improvement and to navigate the labour market. As such the potential of wider labour struggles to tackle exploitation of migrant labour within destination labour markets may be limited.
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