The Contextual Cogs of “Migrant Jobs”: A Comparative Study of the Institutional Determinants of Migrant Marginalisation in European Labour Markets

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. These institutional factors differ across countries with different migration histories, welfare state and production regimes, and interact to shape the and outcomes of migrants. This paper calculates the extent of migrant marginalization in 17 European countries using EU Labour Force Survey data, and then uses (fuzzy set) qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to determine which combinations of institutional factors lead to high migrant marginalisation. The results show that when a country with restrictive immigration policy and a prominent low skills sector is combined with either strong employment protection legislation or a developed welfare state, migrants are highly marginalised on the labour market. The analysis concludes that migrants can be excluded from what are generally considered "protective institutions" - the welfare state and regulations that protect employees - when there is restrictive immigration policy that influences and effectively differentiates migrants' ability to avail of and benefit from them.