Documents immigrant 256 results

"The enlargements of the Single Market in 2004 and 2007, have fundamentally altered shipbuilding employers' production and staffing possibilities. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, Norwegian shipbuilders began to offshore hull production and outfitting to countries in central and eastern Europe (the CEE countries) and eventually acquired several Romanian yards. From 2004, Norwegian yards also hired large amounts of CEE workers through temporary agencies and subcontractors. Transforming the mode of production and staffing in the yards, this two-way mobility has been driven by opportunities to increase production, overcome labour shortages, reduce labour and production costs, and adjust more flexibly to fluctuations in markets and production. This enabled the shipbuilding industry to handle a boom in production of offshore supply ships and the ensuing bust after the oil price dived in 2014.
The shipyard industry is part of the Norwegian core industrial relations system, with strong trade unions and employers' associations. As wages and labour costs are among the highest in Europe, the yards' competitiveness depends on high quality and productivity.
The dual mobility and outsourcing of work has led to a dualisation of the workforce, and declining employment among local blue-collar workers. Due to numerous examples of inferior wages and conditions among the subcontracted CEE-workforce, the unions in 2008 won through with demands for extension of minimum terms in the collective agreement, fueling tension and legal strife between the social partners. Eventually further re-regulation and enforcement measures were enacted, strengthening the rights and remuneration of migrant workers.
Our overall findings suggest that the two-way mobility of production factors can generate gains both for western and eastern yards and workers. However, the dual mobility has contributed to erosion of the industry's national skill base and establishment of a flexible segment of migrant workers who are not incorporated in the model of organised labour relations, lacking institutional representation and voice.
Looking ahead, the ongoing turn towards the production of more technology-intensive ‘green' vessels will require upgrading of qualifications, calling for more investment in vocational training, skill formation and long-term recruitment."

"Changes in the labor market primarily affect young people, and new forms of work associated with the Gig economy and the “uberization” phenomenon have significant impacts on young workers, particularly young immigrants. This results in major consequences in terms of job precarity and engagement, or new forms of engagement in work and employment. The prevalence of precarious employment affects all young people, but especially young immigrants or those from immigrant families. Our aim was to analyze this employment situation which manifests itself in specific sectors like digital mobility and delivery services, which we have studied. Our theoretical framework is based on labor market segmentation, and refers to issues of precarity and access to the labor market, particularly the debate about whether precarious jobs serve as bridges to better employment or traps that do not allow access to permanent or at least regular employment. The research method is qualitative, based on 22 interviews, with 17 men and 5 women, as there is a predominance of men in these jobs. The results show that this on-demand employment situation leads to limited work engagement, as this type of job is seen not only as temporary but also unlikely to serve as a “bridge” to better employment and professional integration, resulting in some disengagement among young people who take these jobs during their studies and early attempts to enter the labor market."

"How has EU integration affected production and labour strategies in the Romanian shipbuilding sector? This report shows that there has been a gradual integration of Romanian shipyards into the European market, combined with a segmentation of labour after the 2000s. The EU accession process enabled Romanian shipyards to find international clients, following the collapse of orders from the state after 1989. As labour costs were around 10 times lower than in western Europe in the 1990s, most shipyards were able to survive by producing low(er) cost vessels for large shipyards groups, such as Aker/Fincantieri and Damen. Nevertheless, this wage gap has also contributed to a massive (sometimes circular) migration to western Europe, resulting in severe labour shortages. This, in turn, contributed to wage increases in Romania and the ‘import' of shipbuilding workers, particularly from Vietnam. These migrants are directly employed by shipyards. Union density in large shipyards has been over 50 per cent, enabling unions to conclude yard level collective agreements, covering all employees and those working for large subcontractors.
Somewhat surprisingly, the severe labour shortages combined with opportunities for Romanian workers to obtain higher wages in western Europe, contributed to equal or higher wages for indirect workers (currently almost half of the sectoral labour force). Their lower job security makes it easier for them to take advantage of short-term contracts for better paid jobs abroad. Thus, indirect workers can use their mobility power to obtain a higher income than direct employees, under certain circumstances. Nevertheless, they generally receive lower pensions and incur more injuries. Overall, EU integration has provided opportunities and challenges for both companies and labour. Despite new opportunities linked to the green transition, both unions and managers are concerned that severe labour shortages and further wage increases, might result in the relocation of production further east to countries with even cheaper labour."

"Poland's shipbuilding sector has been undergoing turbulent change for more than 30 years. Once a leading manufacturing sector, it went through an initial transformation shock in the 1990s, experienced a short recovery, then fell into a severe crisis following EU enlargement and the 2008 global financial crisis, only to start to regain its composure in the 2010s. The impacts of Covid-19 and subsequent crises have not been overly negative, largely exacerbating risks related to high inflation and rising energy prices. Polish shipyards have managed to develop new market and product strategies, mainly exploring particular niches and taking advantage of new trends emerging in the global industry as a result of technological innovation (such as offshore windmills) or demand for specialised, tailor-made solutions. The sector experienced the effects of outward migration in the early years of EU membership, with workers leaving in search of employment in Western shipyards. The evolution of the domestic labour market, in which the combined effects of steady economic growth, post-accession emigration, falling interest among labour market entrants in joining the industry, and general demographic tendencies (societal ‘aging' and the fall in the proportion of people of working age) meant that growing demand came up against a falling labour supply. Labour shortages have been met by labour immigration, mainly from Ukraine. Shipbuilding has come to depend on foreign workers. At the CRIST shipyard foreign workers (third-country citizens) constitute nearly 40 per cent of the workforce, while at Remontowa Shipbuilding it is about 10 per cent. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 did not trigger an increase in labour supply, as most of the newest wave of incoming Ukrainian migrants (war refugees) are women and minors. The negative impact of inflation on real wages might potentially translate into renewed interest in the ‘exit' option among Polish workers, seeking work (and higher incomes) abroad in more affluent EU/EEA countries."

"With Canadian data ranging from 1991 to 2011, this paper investigates the effects of the number of years since migration on the earnings of immigrants from the United States and the United Kingdom in Canada. The aim is to test whether the “negative assimilation” hypothesis proposed by Chiswick and Miller (Ind Labor Relat Rev 64(3):502–525, 2011) for immigrants to the United States is a universal finding for immigrants from countries with similar economic standing and skill transferability to those of the destination country. We also expand on Chiswick and Miller's work by doing regressions for both males and females and by comparing to Chinese immigrants, a representative group from a less developed country. We find that the negative assimilation hypothesis does not hold for the Canadian labor market. Specifically, the assimilation rate is close to zero for U.K. immigrants and strictly positive for U.S. immigrants (although lower than that of a comparison group of Chinese immigrants). The assimilation rates are also higher for females than for males."

"This research note takes an occupational attainment approach to examining the economic assimilation of immigrants in Australia. This approach differs from much of the existing literature, which tends to examine economic assimilation by looking at levels of (un)employment or wages. Focusing on occupational attainment is useful, in that disadvantage in the labour market is not limited to employment status and earnings, and an individual's occupation may provide a broader signal of their economic and social well-being. Findings indicate that, on arrival, immigrants from a non-English speaking background face significant disadvantage in occupational attainment, particularly those from Asian countries. There is also evidence to suggest that those who arrive later in life, or are from an Asian non-English speaking background, are the least likely to assimilate over time. Results are indicative of the need for policies to better integrate immigrants from more diverse cultures and societies into the Australian labour market."

"La question de la « double peine » à laquelle seraient condamnées les femmes immigrées et vivant seules avec leur(s) enfant(s), en raison du désavantage que constitue leur statut, est au cœur de cet article. Pour autant, bien que la situation de ces femmes soit globalement beaucoup plus difficile que celle des autres mères de famille, les conclusions se révèlent plus mitigées lorsque l'on se place du seul point de vue de leur condition de femme seule avec enfant(s). L'hétérogénéité au sein des mères immigrées seules est ainsi mise en relief tout en distinguant trois groupes plus ou moins vulnérables dans leur condition de cheffe d'une famille monoparentale. "

"This study focuses on immigrants in Canada and examines their job satisfaction as compared to Canadian-born employees. The authors explore whether high performance work systems (HPWS) affect immigrant employees' job satisfaction differently than Canadian-born, where HPWS include empowerment, motivation and skill enhancing sub-bundles of practices. The study uses Statistics Canada's Workplace and Employee Survey, a longitudinal dataset consisting of six years of data from 1999 to 2004 and 49,344 employees. Ordered logistic regression analyses are used to explore causal relationships. The moderation results show that increases in the motivation sub-bundle and increases in overall experience of HPWS practices are related to increases in job satisfaction among immigrants when compared to Canadian-born employees. Immigrants are a segment of the workforce that is understudied in management. This study identifies HPWS bundles that positively affect immigrants' job satisfaction, suggesting a role for managers to capitalize on job satisfaction improvements ultimately contributing to organizational success. "

"Previous studies find a strong association between source country female labour force participation level and immigrant women's labour market activity in the host country. This relationship is interpreted as the continued influence of source country gender role attitudes on women's labour market behaviour. This article argues that the effect of source country female labour force participation rates extends beyond gender role attitudes by also contributing to labour market skills which help immigrant women navigate the host country labour market. When gender role attitudes are accounted for, source country female labour force participation rate is a strong predictor of immigrant women's earnings in Canada. This is largely explained by differential occupational allocation in the host country."