Facilitating labour migration from Latvia: strategies of various categories of intermediaries
Year: 2020
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Facilitating labour migration from Latvia: strategies of various categories of intermediariesWithin the broad category of migration industries, we focus on intermediaries between employers in Norway requiring migrant labour, and suppliers of Latvian workers willing to migrate.Mediation of labour power is a regulated domain in both countries, but regulations may change: regulations in Latvia have become more lenient, whereas in Norway, they have become stricter in response to increased migration.Intermediaries must be responsive to fluctuations in labour supply and demand, as well as to changing regulations.Today, destination countries are experiencing an overabundance of available migrant labour.This buyer's labour market represents a challenge for intermediaries, spurring adjustments and side-stepping of regulations.Formal temp agencies are supplemented by informal ones, challenging the conceptualization of intermediaries.Also work migrants may become agents, shaping new forms of intermediation and expanding the concept of 'migration industry' to encompass facilitation of labour migration through social networks.In this article, we construct typologies inductively, establishing categories meaningful in the complex context of labour migration from Latvia to Norway.We distinguish between mediation through formal versus informal agencies; establish characteristics of agencies versus individual social network based mediation; and discuss mediation through the posting of workers by companies.
Source: Routledge eBooks
Language: English
Topic: Migration and Labor Dynamics
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4239529103