Low Skilled Migration

No single definition of low-skilled migration exists. “Low-skilled” can refer to people with few formal qualifications, people working in jobs that do not require such qualifications, or people working in low-wage positions regardless of their own educational background. Despite its multiple definitions, the concept of skill is prominent in migration debates. It plays a role in a range of different processes, including the dynamics of migrants’ social and economic integration, public opinion towards migration, the economic impacts of migration, and the design of admission policies.

Blog Posts

Making home on the move

Shivangi Kaushik

Seasonal harvest workers during COVID-19

Roxana Barbulescu & Carlos Vargas-Silva

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

Denny Pencheva

Transnational mobilities of COVID discourse: The Question of Return

Laavanya Kathiravelu & Arokkiaraj Heller

Safety is a political issue: Migrant domestic workers in China after the lock down

Chaoguo Xing

Between (Im)mobility and Resistance: ‘Low-Skilled’ Migrants in the Pandemic

Domiziana Turcatti

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

Steven Vertovec

Firefighting the pandemic is inadvertently teaching India how to govern migration

Mukta Naik

The mobility of a few for the survival of the many

Barclay Bram Shoemaker

High Skilled Migration and Automation Uncertainty

Nilanjan Raghunath

Tanya: a migration story

Dace Dzenovska

Free movement of (overqualified) migrant workers

COMPAS Communications

Sex discrimination and UK immigration law

Catherine Briddick

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

COMPAS Communications

Books

Return: Nationalizing Transnational Mobility in Asia

Biao Xiang

Reports

Exploiting the Opportunity? Low-Skilled Work Migration After Brexit

Madeleine Sumption and Mariña Fernández-Reino

Access to Healthcare, Insurance Provision and Health Status of Sri Lankan Migrant Domestic Workers

Hiranthi Jayaweera, Elizabeth H. Shlala and the Centre for Women's Research (CENWOR)

The COMPAS Approach

Rob McNeil and COMPAS Communications

Migrant Care Workers in Ageing Societies: Research Findings in the United Kingdom

Sarah Spencer,Alessio Cangiano,Isabel Shutes, George Leeson

Migrant Care Workers in Ageing Societies: Research Findings in the United Kingdom. Executive Summary

Sarah Spencer,Alessio Cangiano,Isabel Shutes, George Leeson

Recession, Vulnerable Workers and Immigration. Background Report

Bridget Anderson,Ali Rogers, Nick Clark

The Role of Migrant Care Workers in Ageing Societies: Report on Research Findings in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and the United States

Sarah Spencer, Susan Martin, Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, Eamon O’Shea

Migrant Workers and Vulnerable Employment: A Review of Existing Data

COMPAS Communications

New EU Members? Migrant Workers’ Challenges and Opportunities to UK Trades Unions: a Polish and Lithuanian Case Study

Bridget Anderson, Nick Clark, Violetta Parutis

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

Bridget Anderson,Martin Ruhs,Sarah Spencer, Ben Rogaly

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

Designing Viable and Ethical Labour Immigration Policies

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

The Labor Market Consequences of Hosting Refugees

Carlos Vargas-Silva, Isabel Ruiz

Working Papers

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

Alan Gamlen

Local Belonging, National Authenticity, and the Foreigner: The Encounter Between Bangladeshi and Senegalese Street Hawkers and International Holidaymakers in Rome and Naples, Italy

Phoenix Paz

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

COMPAS Communications

Migrant Labour in Kazakhstan: A Cause for Concern?

Bridget Anderson, Blanka Hancilova

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

Motherhood, Apple Pie and Slavery: Reflections on Trafficking Debates

COMPAS Communications

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

Other Publications

Online report

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

Biao Xiang

Projects

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

COMPAS Communications | October 2007 – October 2009

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

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

Carlos Vargas-Silva | Oct 2020 - May 2022

Immigration and the NHS

Carlos Vargas-Silva | 2015 - 2016

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

Migration and the Marketisation of Social Care: The Employment of Migrant Workers under Cash-for-Care Schemes in the UK

COMPAS Communications | October 2009 – September 2013

Polish and Lithuanian Workers: Opportunities and Challenges for Trades Unions

COMPAS Communications |

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

Recession, Vulnerable Workers and Immigration

Richard Allen | January 2009 – April 2009

Sri Lankan migrant women domestic workers: health insurance provision, access to healthcare and health status

COMPAS Communications | January 2014 – June 2015

The return of the guest worker? Temporary migration programmes in theory and practice

COMPAS Communications | 2006

The role of Migrant Health and Social Care Workers in Ageing Societies

Sarah Spencer | 2007 - 2009

Urbanization from Below

COMPAS Communications | 2013 – 2016