And Labor Came to Us: Making Use of an Opportune Workforce – Enhancing Migrant Integration into British Economy

an article by Dieu Hack-Polay and John Mendy (University of Lincoln, UK) published in Labor Studies Journal Volume 43 Issue 1 (March 2018)

Abstract

This article considers the opportunities presented by the availability of migrant labor in the U.K. employment market and its utilization.

The research found that despite their qualifications, migrant labor is underutilized, thereby resulting in a readily available workforce being shunned and excluded from participative integration.

This raises economic and ethical questions whose exploration revealed structural barriers (individually, communally, and institutionally) that impeded migrants’ fulfillment of citizenship obligations to host communities and UK businesses.

The article’s key contribution is to highlight a skills mismatch and the persistent absence of institutional, communal, and strategic frameworks to support migrants’ integration.

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