This research aims to understand the extent to which integration among Indian highskilled labor migrants in the Swedish society has occurred. The study takes it stance from the following research field: Social integration, interpersonal communication and national identification. These three research fields are assembled into a model used to analyze the empirical data. As a method, nine semi-structured interviews are used with ten Indian national interviewees in total. The Interviews are conducted in the southern part of Sweden in three different cities, Malmö, Lund and Helsingborg. Core findings show proof of employment as a central part in integration. Other findings show lack of Swedish language as an issue for better social integration; low levels of interpersonal communication between the interviewees and other social groups in Sweden which leads to low levels of Swedish national identification. In the discussion, the study stresses the importance of: communication between social groups in order to have better integration; time as an important factor for integration and the need of mutual accommodation between social groups in a pluralistic society like Sweden, to improve levels of integration.

As a result of the increasing mobility of labor globally, trade unions find themselves at a crossroads. Although labor migration has become a common feature of labor markets, it poses a threat to trade unions’ collective agreements by speeding up the downward pressure on wages and employment conditions. Yet recruiting migrant workers may help unions to reverse the trend of declining membership rates and protect collective agreements. Hence, trade unions must take a position toward labor migration and thus face a range of dilemmas surrounding inclusion. Therefore, this thesis aims to investigate trade unions’ development of strategic responses to include migrant workers. The study is conducted in the form of a comparative case study, where seven Swedish blue-collar unions serve as subjects of study. The focus is specifically on the work of local trade union chapters. The main findings include that concrete strategies focusing on the recruitment of migrant workers are rarely in place, and that local union representatives work according to a case-by-case approach. Moreover, sectoral differences do not seem to have any particular influence on trade union practices in this regard.

Continued migration from rural areas and the associated growth in remittance inflows are changing basic characteristics of Nepal’s agrarian economy. Using cross-sectional household survey data covering agricultural production during the 2013 growing season, this thesis investigates the linkages between migration and agricultural production in twenty districts of Nepal. This study focuses on understanding what household and farm characteristics are associated with migration decisions and destination choices using multinomial logit model. I also gauge the impact of labor migration and remittance receipts on maize yield and input levels.

Poland has long been a country of net emigration, though the country has received backlash in recent years for its xenophobic treatment towards asylum seekers from non-European countries, versus its treatment of Ukrainian asylum seekers. To explore this phenomenon, this research first asks, does Poland have a preferential migration policy? I first look at the restrictiveness and evolution of Poland's migration policy from 2003-2019. I find that the state's migration policies which specifically target EU member and Eastern European states are on average slightly less restrictive than the restrictiveness of the entire population of policies. In the following chapter I ask, how is this policy implemented, and how is it reflected in Poland's migrant workforce? To explore how these policies are implemented, I look at work permit data from 2010-2020, analyzing the differences in the number of work permits granted to each country of origin over time. I find that migrants from Eastern European and Central Asian states receive a disproportionately high number of work permits compared to other regions, and that within the region, Ukrainians receive the highest number of permits each year. Finally, to better understand this inequality, my fourth chapter asks, why Ukraine specifically? In this analysis, I hypothesize that proximity and cultural similarities, Poland's security interests, and both states' economic interests drive this special migration relationship. I find mixed support for this hypothesis, but ultimately find that these factors do play important roles in maintaining the relationship between Poland and Ukraine. / Master of Arts / Poland has traditionally been a country where more migrants leave than arrive, but in the past few years, it has faced criticism for its differing attitudes toward asylum seekers based on their country of origin, particularly in its welcoming stance toward Ukrainians as opposed to migrants from non-European countries. In exploring this phenomenon, my research examines whether Poland has a preferential migration policy. I analyze policy to understand this phenomenon of accused hypocrisy in order to understand if these inequalities are built into Poland's legislation, or if there are other factors at play. I first look at the evolution of Polish migration policies from 2003 to 2019 and find that the policies targeting EU and Eastern European countries are generally less strict than those aimed at other regions. However, the differences that I find in strictness are not drastic enough for me to argue that Poland has a discriminatory migration policy. To see how these policies are put into practice, especially in the workforce, I then analyze work permit data from 2010 to 2020. This data shows that Eastern European and Central Asian migrants, particularly Ukrainians, receive significantly more work permits than those from other regions. This trend raises the question: Why is Ukraine a special case? I hypothesize that geographical closeness, cultural similarities, Poland's security concerns, and mutual economic benefits are key factors that influence this unique migration relationship. Although the support I find for this hypothesis varies, I find that ultimately these factors highlight how important aspects of the states' relationship, like geography, culture, security, and economic interests, shape the unique bond between Poland and Ukraine. This study sheds light on the complexities and nuances of national migration policies and their real-world implications, especially in Central European EU member states.

Thesis advisor: Fabio Ghironi / In Chapter 1, I analyze the cross-country transmission of business cycles when firms relocate production abroad, at locations with lower labor costs. In the model, I distinguish between fluctuations in the number of offshoring firms (the extensive margin) and the value added per offshoring firm (the intensive margin) as separate transmission mechanisms. Firms are heterogeneous in labor productivity. They face a sunk entry cost at home and an additional fixed cost to produce offshore. The model replicates the extensive and intensive margin dynamics that I document for Mexico's maquiladora sector. Offshoring enhances the co-movement of output between the countries involved. Offshoring also reduces price dispersion across countries, because it dampens the real exchange rate appreciation that follows improvements in domestic productivity. In Chapter 2, I estimate the conditional correlations and impulse responses of three indicators of offshoring to Mexico (total value added, value added per plant, and the number of plants) for U.S. permanent technology shocks. Using data from U.S. manufacturing and Mexico's maquiladora sector, I identify U.S. permanent technology shocks in a structural VAR model with long-run restrictions. Following a positive shock, offshore production in Mexico exhibits an immediate increase along its intensive margin, but returns to its initial level over time. The extensive margin does not adjust on impact, but increases gradually towards a permanently higher level. The model of offshoring in Chapter 1 matches qualitatively the business cycle dynamics of offshoring to Mexico. In Chapter 3 (co-authored with Federico Mandelman), we analyze the dynamics of labor migration and the insurance role of remittances in a two-country, real business cycle framework. Emigration increases with the expected stream of future wage gains, and is dampened by the sunk cost reflecting border enforcement. During booms in the destination economy, the scarcity of established immigrants enhances the volatility of the immigrant wage and remittances. The welfare gain from the inflow of unskilled labor increases with the complementarity between skilled and unskilled labor, and with the share of the skilled among native labor. The model matches the cyclical dynamics of the unskilled immigration into the U.S. and remittances sent back to Mexico. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

Today, it is a very crucial problem that many European countries are encountering demographic challenges stemming from the population decline and aging and according to many studies and future projections, this demographic trend will reach more critical levels for the next 50 years. The most prominent impact of this demographic situation will be on social security systems that the functioning and sustainability of pension and health care systems will be severely damaged with regard to the rapidly increasing number of elderly and the decline in number of young labor force resulting from the low births rates all over Europe. In this context, labor migration that received significant attention, has risen up to the agenda of Europe to serve as a policy option to mitigate the adverse consequences of demographic challenges. Taking its impetus from the mentioned demographic problem, this thesis aims to analyze the discussions over labor migration as a foreseen policy option to compensate the shortage of labor force in Europe. It also intents to bring relevant data and current debates together to generate a ground in order to open this critical issue to discussion and to elaborate the feasibility of labor migration need for Europe. In this regard, the thesis scrutinizes the reactions of European states regarding their reluctance to open their borders again for &ldquo / mass influx&rdquo / and examines briefly the other preferred and enforced policies that exclude migration option, such as aiming to increase fertility rates, ameliorate social security systems or encourage the native labor force participation. By taking all these into account, this thesis aspires to attract attention to this urgent problem and evaluates the labor migration need in Europe by presenting the relevant reactions and appraisals shaping the migration policies both at the nation state and EU level. Finally, this thesis attempts to contribute to the literature in terms of generating a base for further intensified discussions and studies which constitutes a significant need in the context of interaction between demography and migration in Europe.

The main goal of this final thesis is the analysis of the immigrant's position on the labor market in the Czech Republic and in Germany. For this purpose the thesis makes a research of particular factors and barriers which immigrants have to deal with on the labor market and define their direct effects. Furthermore, the thesis focuses on the integration policy of both countries. Based on performed analysis in the field of immigration and integration the author of the thesis makes a comparison of the attitudes of both countries towards the immigrants with the aim to set up fitting measures for improvement of the immigrant's situation on the Czech labor market. The thesis is divided into theoretical and analytical part. The theoretical part is focused on theoretical solutions in the field of migration, migration policy, integration and discrimination. In analytical part, there is carry out a proper analysis according to the set goals.

The life of labour migrants from third countries in the Czech Republic brings many social problems which foreigners have to solve. Their position in the Czech Republic is mainly determined by setting the legislation of residence permit. Foreigners have a specific social rights by type of residence. The author accounts with the laws of the Czech Republic and with the role of public and private institutions active in the field of migration and integration of foreigners. Also in the context of the regulations and recommendations of the European Union. The author had included the most important social aspects of life in society, such as social security, health, housing and education with special focus on the field of labour. The subject of this thesis is analysis of the status of foreigners in the social conditions of life in the Czech republic.

Since the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) was first reported in Sierra Leone in 1987, its prevalence rate has stabilized at 1.5% in the nation's general population. However, concerns exist regarding the potential increase in high-risk populations, particularly among mineworkers and commercial sex workers. The potential spread of HIV/AIDS as a result of labor migration may threaten the mining sector, which has been identified as a critical driver of recent economic growth and development. A gap remains in the literature regarding the contextual factors in mining communities that lead to high rates of HIV/AIDS. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantitatively examine the association between labor migration and of sexual risk behaviors among mineworkers in the Marampa Mines in Lunsar, Sierra Leone. Grounded in the ecological model and using a cross-sectional design, 296 mineworkers from the Marampa mining communities were surveyed using a standardized survey questionnaire. Research questions were answered using simple linear and binary logistic regression analyses. Analyses of the results indicated a significant relationship between labor migration and condom self-efficacy, where migrants were predicted to have condom self-efficacy scores 7 times higher than nonmigrants. However, the results showed no statistically significant relationship between labor migration and engagement in multiple sexual partnerships and commercial sex among the mineworkers. These findings will provide important implications for positive social change in the development of multilevel HIV intervention programs to reduce sexual risk behaviors that transmit HIV, thereby improving the health and wellbeing of miners and that of their partners and families in the mining communities.

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