Transcript Slide 1

‘Negotiating the Recession: Polish
Migrants in post Celtic Tiger Ireland’
Labour Market Vulnerability, Precarious Work and
Migrant Worker in the Economic Downturn
Queen Mary University of London
16 November 2011
Dr Elaine Moriarty and Justyna Salamońska
Trinity College Dublin
Overview
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Migrant Careers and Aspirations
Migrant workers in a recession –
precarious turn from boom to bust
Migration and Social welfare in postCeltic Tiger Ireland
Portability of welfare rights in the new
Europe
Migrant Careers and Aspirations
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Core: Qualitative Panel Study (2008-2010)
» 22 Polish migrants interviewed in 6 waves (132 inters)
» 10 female and 12 male; aged between 22 and 38;
majority 3rd level education
» Participants in various occupational positions in 4
sectors: construction, hospitality, software and
financial services
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Labour force survey (QNHS carried out by the CSO)
Post-Celtic Tiger Ireland and
immigration
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Immigration into Ireland slowed down recently (e.g. 94,000 PPS
numbers issued to Poles in 2006; but less than 9,000 in 2010)
Also, some outflows of NMS migrants, but not on a mass scale.
Stocks from peak 216,000 (2008, Q1) to 170,000 (2011, Q2)
Ireland badly hit by recession; unemployment increased from
5% (2004) to 14.3% (2011, Q2)
Migrants, especially from NMS, more affected by downturn:
19.4% out of work compared to 13.9% of Irish workers (2011,
Q2)
NMS employment loss 2008-10: Construction over 60%;
Manufacturing 23%; Retail 30%
Employment rate of NMS migrants falls from 84% (2006, Q1) to
66% (2011, Q2)
Non-Irish Nationals on Live
Register (2008-2011)
50,000
45,000
40,000
35,000
30,000
UK
25,000
EU15 excl Irl. & UK
20,000
EU15 to EU27
15,000
Other
10,000
5,000
0
Source: Central Statistics Office, 2011
NMS migrant workers in a
recession
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As shown, so far limited evidence of migrant outflows
This is reflected in our QPS where only 6 have left Ireland,
mainly for Poland, continental Europe, America
Most participants across sectors reported
» an intensification of work
» longer working hours
» extension of work duties
They also reported employers
» favouring a ‘return of the Irish’
» use of ‘flexible’ contracts’
» use of redundancy options supported by the state
Greater sense of insecurity
‘I feel good in this job [as a Restaurant Floor Manager]. The
cooperation with people that I work with is excellent. The
atmosphere at work is simply great. I feel like I’m at home
here…I think that I would be still satisfied working here in a
few years time’ (W1).
‘There is a bit of a different attitude towards work. Everybody is
more afraid…a time of waiting that something will
happen…They [restaurant owner and manager] are not sure
what’s going to happen tomorrow’ (W3).
‘Well, the tension [at work] is kind of stronger. You know, people
earn less and so on…In fact I am thinking about looking for
something else…At the moment this company is a sinking
ship’ (W6).
(Lukas, 29, Hospitality)
Deteriorating work conditions
‘They are trying to get more and more out of us…Before [the
recession] we had a norm of installing 50 plates per day.
And now it is 70 per day…If you are asking too many
questions…then he [the boss] will simply tell you that you
are the fixer and you will get fired’ (W4)
‘You know, he cannot humiliate me like that…I would end up
going to a doctor. Because seriously, I had those moments
[when I thought] that I would go to a psychiatrist, because I
couldn’t cope here. I was actually taking anti-anxiety pills’
(W5)
(Wiktor, 31, Construction)
Migration and Social Welfare in
post Celtic Tiger Ireland
It is clear from the QPS interviews that welfare
benefits did not feature in the initial migration
decision (Kvist, 2004)
For those migrants who do lose their job,
social welfare arrangements offer some
protection.
‘You can always get…I wouldn’t want to…but
you can get the benefit here, the one for the
unemployed. So it gives you some survival’
(Marek).
Migration and the Irish
welfare state
“habitually resident …is intended to convey a
degree of permanence evidenced by a regular
physical presence enduring for some time…and
intended to continue … the foreseeable future”
“A person’s main centre of interest would
normally be in the country in which s/he has lived
all his/her life and has his/her home and family.
This may be maintained even where a person
lives and works for a period of time in another
country”
Dept of Social and Family Affairs (2009)
Portability of welfare rights in the
new Europe
While welfare states are still regulated primarily
at the national level, there is a growing
European-wide dimension to welfare rights
(Kvist, 2004)
Transnational dimension of welfare rights:
‘Before I left Ireland, I finally got the social [Job
Seekers Benefit]…I collected all of the
documents three weeks before leaving…You
can move it for three months. It is very
beneficial…if you are going back to Poland then
you are entitled to it…it is lots of money for
Polish conditions’ (Pawel)
Conclusion
Researching migration at micro level demonstrates a
diverse set of experiences of the recession
The recession has seen work conditions and security of
employment diminish greatly
We suggest that there was already an attempt to qualify EU
social rights with the introduction of ‘HRC’ at time of
accession.
The ‘crisis’ has helped to facilitate the further rolling back of
social rights by emphasizing ‘centre of interest’.
In effect we argue that these social policy adjustments
attempt to reassert the notion that people live in one place.
However, the reality of EU mobility undermines this.