AUTHOR=King Seán 

TITLE=The contextual cogs of “migrant jobs”: A comparative study of the institutional determinants of migrant marginalization in European labor markets

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Political Science

VOLUME=Volume 4 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/political-science/articles/10.3389/fpos.2022.974727

DOI=10.3389/fpos.2022.974727

ISSN=2673-3145

ABSTRACT=Migrants’ play a significant role in European labour markets and are used as sources of “cheap labour”; often being disproportionately represented in low-wage, poor conditions, or otherwise precarious positions. Past research has suggested that the process of migrants being filtered into these low-end occupations is linked to institutional factors in receiving countries such as immigration policy, the welfare state and employment regulation. This paper calculates the extent of migrant marginalization in 17 European countries and uses qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and regression modelling to determine understand how combinations of institutional factors operate and interact leading to high migrant marginalisation. The QCA results  showed that when a country with a prominent low skills sector and restrictive immigration policy is combined with either strong employment protection legislation or a developed welfare state, migrants will be more strongly marginalised on the labour market. The results of the statistical analysis largely aligned with the idea that restrictive immigrant policy by itself and in combination with other factors can increase marginalisation.