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Conference paper

Firm strategies affecting labour mobility in Europe: Recruiting foreign workers in the Construction industry

Date

2006-07-05

Authors

Giovanna Fullin, Anna Ferro, and Ivana Fellini

Abstract

Migration studies focussing on the labour demand and firms recruitment behaviour are quite limited. This paper explores how recruitment companies’ decision can/could affect international migration flows, specifically analysing the construction industry where foreign labour force is a central component. Through a cross-country comparison (Italy, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal and the Netherlands), we underlined the different characteristics of the industry (i.e. dimension of companies, use of subcontracting, presence of foreign firms and posted workers) and the impact of different labour market conditions. The article finally analyses a) how foreign workers are recruited by construction companies, b) to what extent their presence is linked to subcontracting strategies and/or irregular work and c) what is the influence played by the regulation systems of national labour markets.

Conference name

COMPAS Annual Conference 2006 'International Labour Migration: In Whose Interests?'

Conference location

University of Oxford

Number of pages

23

Publisher

University of Oxford, Economic and Social Research Council, ESRC Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), Department of Sociology and Social Research of the Milano-Bicocca University

Links

Keywords

migration, Construction industry, Labour market, Recruitement, Subcontracting

Economic sectors

Construction trades helpers and labourers

Geographical focuses

United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and Netherlands

Languages

English