This is a thesis about knowing, working and migrating in a complex and fluid world. Through an analysis of biographic-narrative interviews with migrants working in 'knowledge intensive' roles, as well as with those employed in jobs normally considered 'low-skilled', arguments about knowing, working and migrating in the 'new knowledge economy' are developed. Foregrounding an active and embodied understanding of knowing as a socially embedded and fluid phenomenon allows for a reconceptualisation of the relationships between knowing, migrating and working, raising questions about our normative understandings of both the 'knowledge' economy and divisions of migrant labour. This thesis seeks to illustrate how everyday practice and the interaction of complex (and often competing) 'forces' have acted to produce powerful ideas about what kind of jobs are suitable for which types of migrants, and how these ideas become accepted as normal – as 'common sense' assumptions. Furthermore, such productions of knowledge about migrants, also impacts on how, what and where we know. That is, the processes and performances of knowing are both constitutive of, and constituted by, the structures of power which shape our lives. Thus the 'power to know' is contextual, fluid and yet fundamental to the constitution of our everyday lives.

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This Master thesis deals with labour mobility and aims to uncover the main drivers influencing the flows of workers within the European Union (EU). It first provides an extensive overview of labour market, labour mobility and legal framework in the EU. Then it discusses several theories and models dealing with labour mobility. The main part of this thesis consists in empirical analysis of labour flows within EU-25 countries. This analysis is meant to provide statistical evidence of relevant mobility drivers. Contrarily to similar works, this thesis takes into account not only economic and financial factors, but also social, psychological, linguistic and other non-tangible factors that might play important role in determining the labour flows within the EU. The thesis further focuses on specific mobility incentives of the Old and the New Member States. Based on results of the empirical model and the regression analysis, the thesis concludes by discussing the limits of labour mobility and suggesting a remedy aimed at enhancing it.

Labor market projections indicate a shortage of health care workers across Canada and around the world. The shortage of healthcare workers is more acute in developing nations, which grapple with weak health systems unable to address high disease burdens. This situation is made worse by the movement of health personnel in search of a better standard of living, access to advanced technology and more stable political conditions in developed countries such as Canada - a process known as ‘brain drain’. Brain drain has been described as ‘a perverse subsidy’ by scholars and identified as disconcerting by the World Health Organization, which calls for the ethical recruitment of internationally educated health professionals. Significant research on the migration and recertification experiences of internationally trained physicians and nurses exists but very little has been written on internationally educated midwives (IEMs). This study uses a social equity framework and insights from Foucauldian and post-colonial feminist research to explore practices of assessment and bridging programs for IEMs; the factors that impede IEM recertification; and the ways Canadian midwifery stakeholders mitigate international migration (brain drain) and poor labor integration (brain waste) of IEMs. Data collection was primarily through key informant interviews and document analysis. The study data - gathered and analyzed in 2011/12 – is reflective of the situation of midwifery during that period. Findings from the study indicate several inequities in the recertification process of IEMs, primarily in the application process to assessment and bridging programs and in financial and geographical constraints. The study also suggests a lack of discernment by midwifery stakeholders between active and passive recruitment, and tacit support of the passive recruitment of IEMs. Questions are also raised regarding the inclusivity of the Canadian midwifery model of practice and illustrate that further research is needed.

The diploma work analyses the leading factors of the Czech labour market. Firstly, it analyses and assesses an impact of individual factors on the labour force during the period lasting from 1997 till 2007 and it searches for the reasons regarding each variable progress. Moreover it aspires to identify possible mutual dependences between various indicators that formulate better position for the following outlook. Secondly, the work provides a short-time prediction of the most important factors that will probably affect the quantity of the labour force in the Czech Republic in course of following years. After the quantity prediction the work explains consequences regarding possible affection of the national economy's growth and identifies possible opportunities and threats connected with the changing structure of the Czech labour force.

While concessions to labour mobility at the international level seem off the agenda, with the General Agreements on Trades in Services essentially tabled, the past decades have produced a proliferation of regional trade agreements (RTAs), some of which are facilitating labour mobility specifically. In this paper, the author first conducts a comparative overview of RTAs that have a form of labour mobility programmes: namely, ECOWAS, ASEAN, the European Union, NAFTA, CARICOM and MERCOSUR. Building on an overview of the regulatory frameworks, institutions and legal instruments of these RTAs, the author seeks to find if patterns or lessons to be learned emerge that are relevant from a global perspective and to enhance the legal architecture of international labour mobility. The findings show positive outcomes, with some RTAs generating trade benefits and even moving forward with a common passport based on the newly shared regional identity, and at times even creating dispute settlement and legal systems for regional litigious matters. On the other hand, this exercise also points to various problems such as the poor implementation of the labour mobility provisions, to overly strict restrictions based on skill and to difficulty securing documents to benefit from the labour mobility programmes - in some of the agreements. In the second part, the author discusses these challenges faced in these regional systems. She notes that prioritising skilled as opposed to low-skilled workers has not yielded a comparative advantage and may also be fostering irregular movements. She also highlights that trade liabilities emerge from the association of countries with similar levels of development and that it accentuates the North-South paradigm. These problems disrupt access to the benefits of the programmes, which ultimately creates irregular migrations and uneven labour standards for migrant workers. Finally, the author finds that most RTAs reviewed are developing their own legal frameworks with limited interest for the international instruments available, which are at best a source of inspiration. In the third part, the author invites the reader to challenge many preconceived ideas on international mobility emerging from the first two sections, and shares her thoughts on ways forward to build an international framework, based on existing scholarly work and considering the unpopularity of the GATS. She concludes with a discussion on ‘new regionalism’ as an alternative until a shared international framework to facilitate migrations is set up, with the possibility of a merger between RTAs from the North and the South. This, she argues, could possibly unleash the full benefits of labour mobility such as increased GDPs, poverty reduction and tackling irregular migrations; benefits that have not been entirely felt to date.

This thesis is concerned with the ways in which the laws and policies governing labour migration shape the relationship between migrant workers, employers, and labour markets in advanced industrialised countries. Specifically, it elucidates the intersections of immigration and labour market regulatory norms, structures, and processes that have salient implications for migrants’ work relations. The notions of ‘hyper-dependence’ and ‘hyper-precarity’ are developed as the main analytical and normative lenses in this thesis for examining the particular vulnerabilities associated with migrants’ precarious statuses under contemporary labour migration regimes. Hyper-dependence refers to an acute dependence that transcends the immediate context of an employment relationship, where other aspects of a worker’s life critically depend on that employer. For migrant workers, hyper-dependence may arise where their legal statuses is tethered to a specific employer sponsorship, accompanied by other de jure and de facto restrictions on their labour mobility. Hyper-precarity seeks to capture the multifaceted insecurities and uncertainties in migrants’ work relations and their broader migration projects, which are linked to their exclusion, in law and in practice, from a wide array of social, economic, and civil rights in the host state. Engaging with the various and often competing goals and concerns of immigration law and labour law, the two concepts of hyper-dependence and hyper-precarity are developed and applied through an in-depth comparative analysis of the legal and regulatory architectures of two contemporary temporary migrant workers’ programmes (TMWPs): Australia’s Temporary Work (Skilled) Subclass 457 Visa (‘457 visa’) scheme and the United Kingdom’s Tier 2 (General) visa scheme. In recent years, TMWPs in advanced industrialised countries have been touted by global and national policymakers as a desirable labour migration instrument that delivers ‘triple wins’ for host states, home states, and migrants and their families. I situate the normative concerns of the legally constructed hyper-dependence and hyper-precarity in the ethical debates on TMWPs in liberal states. I also consider how the worst extremes of the two ‘hyper’ conditions combined in highly exploitative work relations could be ameliorated, and in doing so propose some ideas for reforming key features of current TMWPs to enable migrants to exit any employment relationship and to resort to a range of voice mechanisms in the workplace.

This dissertation describes labour work mobility issues within the European Union. It focuses on obstacles that restrict the free movement of workers and how these obstacles can be eliminated by the European Union. The case study "Motivation of Czech workers to work abroad" is also included in this dissertation.

The Covid-19 pandemic that erupted in 2020 has impacted most livelihoods and increased poverty levels worldwide. This thesis considers the impact which the Corona pandemic has had on Ukrainian seasonal migrant workers’ livelihoods in Poland. The societal travel restrictions’ short-term effects on the seasonal livelihoods are investigated along with the subsequent short-term coping strategies used by the seasonal migrant workers. The study draws on primary data from 10 semi-structured, digital interviews conducted with Ukrainian seasonal migrant workers from different sectors who worked in Poland during the pandemic period. Through the Sustainable Livelihood Framework, the cases were individually considered whilst also comparing within the sample groups from the sectors agriculture, construction, domestic services, culinary, and warehouse work. The findings of the study show that the seasonal migration livelihood strategy was resilient, lowered vulnerability, and allowed for sustainable livelihood outcomes despite the Corona pandemic. Travel restrictions and other institutional processes enabled or disabled the seasonal workers. Despite the Corona pandemic, the seasonal migration livelihood strategy was used as a short-, medium- and long-term strategy to alleviate poverty. The study increases the multidimensional understanding of the pandemic effects on Ukrainian seasonal workers in Poland. Therefore, this research provides an understanding of poverty alleviation, seasonal migration livelihood strategies, and resilience in a pandemic context.