Labour Markets

Overview
Blogs
Publications
Projects

How do international migration and labour markets affect each other in high- and low-income countries? What is the impact of immigration on wages and employment conditions, and how does the nature of the labour market affect the demand for migrant labour? COMPAS research on migration and labour markets engages and integrates theories, methods and research from a range of relevant disciplines including economics, politics and sociology.

Blog Posts

Lockdown in India: Exodus as an expression of grievance

Manish Maskara

Migrant workers in the tourism industry: How has COVID-19 affected them and what does the future hold?

Helen Dempster & Cassandra Zimmer

Migration and Mobility after the 2020 Pandemic: The End of an Age?

Alan Gamlen

The worst of both worlds: EU workers between Coronavirus and Brexit

Denny Pencheva

Locked In after Lockdown: Migrant Workers in Wuhan

Willy Sier

Low-skilled migrants after COVID-19: Singapore futures?

Steven Vertovec

The Marooned Malaise: Covid-19 and Africa’s stolen futures

Loren B Landau

What is the impact of refugee repatriation for communities of return?

Carlos Vargas-Silva

Australian immigration policy: The role and scope of points-tested visas

Alan Gamlen and Henry Sherrell

Reasons for Migration and the Labour Market Implications of Brexit

Carlos Vargas-Silva

The real forces shaping wages: ageing, education, migration, or technological changes?

COMPAS Communications

Do the fiscal effects of EU migrants vary across European countries with different welfare states and labour market institutions?

Marcus Österman, Joakim Palme & Martin Ruhs

The COMPAS 2018 list of best books on migration

Rosaleen Cunningham, Michael Keith, Mikal Mast, Nathan Grassi, Rob McNeil, Carlos Vargas-Silva and COMPAS Communications

High Skilled Migration and Automation Uncertainty

Nilanjan Raghunath

A Global Crisis in Care?

Fiona Williams

Academic Talents in Singapore: Coming, Going or Staying?

Lucie Cerna & Meng-Hsuan Chou

A New Era for International Workers in Turkey?

Selman Salim Kesgin

The Conservative migration plan: does it work for anyone?

COMPAS Communications

Sophie’s journey: Three countries, three stories, same abuse

Emel Coşkun

Paradoxically European: how a spike in xenophobia revalues EU citizenship

COMPAS Communications

Reforming homelessness policies for migrants: 8 lessons from a working group of European cities

COMPAS Communications

The Economic Outcomes of Refugees and Other Migrants in the UK

Carlos Vargas-Silva

Free movement of (overqualified) migrant workers

COMPAS Communications

The base: From peasant revolution to labour migration management

Biao Xiang

EU migration and welfare benefits: Is unrestricted labour immigration compatible with an inclusive welfare state?

Martin Ruhs

Sex discrimination and UK immigration law

Catherine Briddick

Twenty years later the refugees are back

Carlos Vargas-Silva

What do we know about the reasons for migration and the social and economic characteristics of migrants in the UK?

COMPAS Communications

‘Can’t change one without the other’: Reforming labour immigration and labour markets in the Gulf States

COMPAS Communications

Books

The Price of Rights: Regulating International Labor Migration

COMPAS Communications

Global “Body Shopping”: An Indian International Labor System in the Information Technology Industry

Biao Xiang

Reports

Exploiting the Opportunity? Low-Skilled Work Migration After Brexit

Madeleine Sumption and Mariña Fernández-Reino

Worker, helper, auntie, maid?

COMPAS Communications

Recruitment in Britain: Examining employers’ practices and attitudes to employing UK-born and foreign-born workers

Madeleine Sumption

Background report: Migrant workers in the UK healthcare sector

COMPAS Communications

Research Report: Workplace integration of migrant health workers in the UK

COMPAS Communications

The COMPAS Approach

Rob McNeil and COMPAS Communications

Towards a Post-2015 Development Agenda: What Role for Migrant Rights and International Labour Migration?

COMPAS Communications

Migrant Rights, Immigration Policy and Human Development

COMPAS Communications

Recession, Vulnerable Workers and Immigration. Background Report

Bridget Anderson,Ali Rogers, Nick Clark

Identifying Skilled Occupations Where Migration Can Sensibly Help to Fill Labour Shortages

Martin Ruhs (Member, Migration Advisory Committee)

Migrant Workers and Vulnerable Employment: A Review of Existing Data

COMPAS Communications

Transit, Migration and Politics: Trends and Constructions on the Fringes of Europe

COMPAS Communications

Forced Labour and Migration to the UK

Bridget Anderson, Ben Rogaly

Migrants’ Lives Beyond the Workplace. The Experiences of Central and East Europeans in the UK

Bridget Anderson,Martin Ruhs,Sarah Spencer, Ben Rogaly

The Market for Migrant Domestic and Sex Workers

Bridget Anderson, Julia O’Connell Davidson

The Market for Migrant Domestic and Sex Workers. Executive Summary

Bridget Anderson, Julia O’Connell Davidson

Changing Status, Changing Lives? Methods, Participants and Lessons Learnt

Bridget Anderson, Martin Ruhs, Sarah Spencer, Ben Rogaly

Fair Enough? Central and East European Migrants in Low-Wage Employment in the UK

Bridget Anderson, Martin Ruhs, Sarah Spencer, Ben Rogaly

Managing Migration in Ireland: A Social and Economic Analysis

Martin Ruhs (author Chapters 3 and 7)

The Contribution of the Voluntary Sector to Migrant Integration in Europe

Sarah Spencer, Sarah Cooke

Designing Viable and Ethical Labour Immigration Policies

COMPAS Communications

Managing the Immigration and Employment of non-EU Nationals in Ireland

COMPAS Communications

Managing the Immigration and Employment of non-EU Nationals in Ireland. Executive Summary

COMPAS Communications

Temporary Foreign Worker Programmes: Policies, Adverse Consequences, and the Need to Make Them Work

COMPAS Communications

Journal Articles

From Low-Skilled to Key Workers: The Implications of Emergencies for Immigration Policy

Mariña Fernández-Reino, Madeleine Sumption and Carlos Vargas-Silva

Labour market effects of demographic shifts and migration in OECD countries

Frédéric Docquier, Zovanga L. Kone, Aaditya Mattoo, Çağlar Özden

Latinos in the United States and in Spain: the impact of ethnic group stereotypes on labour market outcomes

Ruta Yemane & Mariña Fernández-Reino

Employment outcomes of ethnic minorities in Spain: towards increasing economic incorporation among immigrants and the second generation?

Mariña Fernández-Reino, Jonas Radl & María Ramos

Intergenerational assimilation of UK immigrants in the labour market: a minor assumption with enormous implications for inference

COMPAS Communications

Differences in labour market outcomes between natives, refugees and other migrants in the UK

Carlos Vargas-Silva, Isabel Ruiz

Immigration and the reallocation of work health risks

Carlos Vargas-Silva, Osea Giuntella, Fabrizio Mazzonna & Catia Nicodemo

Towards a new politics of migration?

COMPAS Communications

Return Migration and Economic Outcomes in the Conflict Context

Sonja Fransen, Isabel Ruiz & Carlos Vargas-Silva

Are Refugees’ Labour Market Outcomes Different from Those of Other Migrants? Evidence from the United Kingdom in the 2005–2007 Period

Isabel Ruiz & Carlos Vargas-Silva

EU Migration to and from the UK After Brexit

Carlos Vargas-Silva

Remittances Sent To and From the Forcibly Displaced

Carlos Vargas-Silva

Targeting Migration with Limited Control: The Case of the UK and the EU

Carlos Vargas-Silva, Cinzia Rienzo

The Labor Market Consequences of Hosting Refugees

Carlos Vargas-Silva, Isabel Ruiz

The Economics of Forced Migration

Isabel Ruiza and Carlos Vargas-Silva

Working Papers

Migration and Mobility after the 2020 Pandemic: The End of an Age?

Alan Gamlen

Differences in labour market outcomes between natives, refugees and other migrants in the UK

Isabel Ruiz & Carlos Vargas-Silva

Internal borders and migration in India

Zovanga L. Kone, Maggie Y. Liu, Aaditya Mattoo, Çağlar Özden & Siddharth Sharma

Swedish Labour Immigration Policy: The Role of Unions, Employers and Political Parties

Frida Boräng & Lucie Cerna

Migrant Britain, Sustainable Germany: Explaining Differences in the International Migration of Health Professionals

Kirsten Hoesch

What Does “The Migrant” Tell Us About the (Good) Citizen?

COMPAS Communications

Openness, Skills and Rights: An Empirical Analysis of Labour Immigration Programmes in 46 High- and Middle-income Countries

COMPAS Communications

Building Demography into Migration Research: Population Change and the Latent Demand for Migration in 21st Century Europe

Richard Allen

Labor Shortages and US Immigration Reform: Promises and Perils of an Independent Commission

Martin Ruhs, Philip Martin

“No One Comes Here on Their Own”: The System of Child Labour Migration in Bangladesh

Karin Heissler

Migrant Labour in Kazakhstan: A Cause for Concern?

Bridget Anderson, Blanka Hancilova

“Illegal Immigrant”: Victim or Villain?

COMPAS Communications

The Paper Market: “Borrowing” and “Renting” of Identity Documents

Richard Allen

“London the Leveller”: Ghanaian Work Strategies and Community Solidarity

Ellie Vasta, Leander Kandilige

Are You Being Served? Employer Demand for Migrant Labour in the UK’s Hospitality Sector

Martin Ruhs, Gareth Matthews

Battles in Time: The Relation Between Global and Labour Mobilities

COMPAS Communications

Differentiating Irregularity and Solidarity: Turkish Immigrants at Work in London

Ellie Vasta, Aykan Erdemir

Legality and Labour: Chinese Migration, Neoliberalism and the State in the UK and China

Biao Xiang

A Very Private Business: Migration and Domestic Work

COMPAS Communications

Greasing the Wheels of the Flexible Labour Market: East European Labour Immigration in the UK

COMPAS Communications

Numbers vs. Rights: Trade-offs and Guest Worker Programmes

Martin Ruhs, Philip Martin

The Origins and Functions of Illegality in Migrant Labour Markets: An Analysis of Migrants, Employers and the State in the UK

COMPAS Communications

“No Pizza without Migrants”: Between the Politics of Identity and Transnationalism: Second-Generation Italians in Switzerland

Susanne Wessendorf

Deserving of Decent Work: The Complications of Organizing Irregular Workers Without Legal Rights

Nicole Silverman

Informal Employment and Immigrant Networks: A Review Paper

Richard Allen

Skilled Health Professionals’ Migration and its Impact on Health Delivery in Zimbabwe

Abel Chikanda

Other Publications

Trends report

Migrants in the Welsh Labour Market

Carlos Vargas-Silva

Online report

Emigration Trends and Policies in China: Movement of the Wealthy and Highly Skilled

Biao Xiang

Policy Brief

Consistent Support and Mutual Learning Required

COMPAS Communications

Global Exchange briefings

What works in building common ground and shared values?

Vidhya Ramalingam

Projects

A need for migrant labour? Labour shortages, immigration and public policy

COMPAS Communications | October 2007 – October 2009

Begging, Work and Citizenship

COMPAS Communications | May 2015 - April 2016

Changing status, changing lives? The socio-economic impact of EU Enlargement on low wage migrant labour in the UK

Sarah Spencer and COMPAS Communications | March 2004 – May 2005

Cohesion, integration, migration: urbanism, city change, and the future of multiculturalism

Michael Keith | 2009

Emigration Dynamism and Social Transformation in Northeast China

Biao Xiang | 2005

Feeding the Nation: seasonal migrant workers and food security during COVID-19 pandemic

Carlos Vargas-Silva | Oct 2020 - March 2022

Forced Labour and Immigration in the UK

COMPAS Communications | February 2004 – November 2004

Immigrant Work Strategies and Networks: London-Turkey-Ghana

Richard Allen | 2007 - 2009

Immigrants and Employment Discrimination

Madeleine Sumption | March – April 2015

Migrant workers and vulnerable employment: a review of existing data

COMPAS Communications | February 2008 – July 2008

Migration and Poverty in the UK

Carlos Vargas-Silva, Madeleine Sumption and COMPAS Communications | February – April 2015

Precarious workers, troubled nation – the reconfiguration of national attachment through precarious work. A case study of Romanian migrants in London

COMPAS Communications | October 2013 - December 2016