Understanding access to the labour market through migration channels

Research Database / FORSCHUNGSDATENBANK

Publication 4483618 | Verified

Data Entry: Please note that the research database will be replaced by UNIverse by the end of October 2023. Please enter your data into the system https://universe-intern.unibas.ch. Thanks

Login for users with Unibas email account...

Login for registered users without Unibas email account...

Understanding access to the labour market through migration channels

JournalArticle (Originalarbeit in einer wissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift)

ID	4483618
Author(s)	Sandoz, Laure
Author(s) at UniBasel	Sandoz, Laure
Year	2018
Title	Understanding access to the labour market through migration channels
Journal	Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Pages / Article-Number	1-20
Abstract	The mobility of the ‘highly skilled’ has become widely researched but only a few researchers have approached this category of migrants from a critical perspective. This article argues that understanding how ‘highly skilled migrants’ are constructed necessitates considering the conditions in which migration takes place as well as the perceptions and practices associated with these conditions. It uses the concept of ‘migration channels’ to investigate the enabling and disabling factors associated with different migration situations. The analysis draws on biographic interviews with highly educated migrants in Switzerland, and supplements these with expert interviews and ethnographic observations of people working in institutions that support, guide, or control migrants’ access to the labour market. The article shows that categories of migrants are artificial and often do not coincide with lived realities. Migrants actively develop strategies to achieve their personal aspirations, but they also depend on the opportunities available in their environment. The concept of ‘migration channels’ enables us to capture this interplay between structures and agency by showing how different actors shape the opportunities and constraints faced by different groups of migrants, and how migrants actively deal with them. This concept thus fosters a critical yet empathic understanding of migration experiences.
Publisher	Taylor & Francis
ISSN/ISBN	1369-183X ; 1469-9451
URL	https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1502657
edoc-URL	https://edoc.unibas.ch/65270/
Full Text on edoc	Available
Digital Object Identifier DOI	10.1080/1369183X.2018.1502657

02/05/2024

Research Database / FORSCHUNGSDATENBANK