Alina Esteves

Labour market integration of immigrants in Portugal in times of austerity: resilience, in situ responses and re-emigration

ABSTRACT The austerity regime implemented in Portugal to face the financial and economic crisis caused readjustments in the country’s productive structure and labour market with an impact on immigrants’ lifeworlds. This article aims at analysing the consequences of the crisis in the lives of third-country nationals living in Portugal, reflecting particularly on the impact on their integration process, understood as economic incorporation, in a context of increasing work precariousness. Special attention will be given to the resilience of immigrants visible in their responses to the labour market constraints, namely through their choices of geographic (im)mobility and also the implementation of strategies to ‘normalise’ their lives. Starting with a brief reference to the meaning of integration in Portugal in a context of crisis, we draw on data from two research projects, arguing that despite the increased hardship, the resilience of foreign workers is considerable and they still think it is worth coming to Portugal. The strategies adopted may be either in situ or implying onward migration, resulting from the combination of context opportunities and individual agency. Factors like legal status, education and having relatives abroad play a moderate role in this process.

Os efeitos da crise económica na situação laboral dos imigrantes: o caso dos brasileiros em Portugal

Apos um periodo de crescimento economico que potenciou o aumento dos fluxos migratorios para Portugal, o pais entrou, apos 2008, numa forte crise economica com impactos muito negativos no emprego e em sectores que empregavam um grande numero de imigrantes como a construcao civil. Pela incorporacao diferenciada dos imigrantes nos varios segmentos do mercado de trabalho e importante analisar em profundidade a extensao e a abrangencia destes efeitos, designadamente tendo em conta a origem geografica dos imigrantes. Os brasileiros constituem o maior contingente estrangeiro em Portugal desde meados dos anos 2000 e e sobre os efeitos da crise nestes imigrantes que queremos centrar-nos neste artigo. Abordamos duas questoes principais: o impacto da crise nos fluxos Portugal-Brasil e o impacto na situacao laboral dos que se encontravam em Portugal entre 2012-2015. Paralelamente, procuramos tambem averiguar os niveis de satisfacao com a experiencia migratoria em Portugal.

The Economic Crisis as a Feedback-Generating Mechanism? Brazilian and Ukrainian Migration to Portugal

Migration researchers have demonstrated the central function that feedback plays in the perpetuation of migration flows between a specific origin and destination region (Massey et al., 1998; de Haas, 2010; Mabogunje, 1970). Feedback mechanisms are the changes in the constituting elements, for example organisations, strategies or flows of people, which are fed back into the migration system, regulating its functions (Bakewell, 2014). Thus, the system’s behaviour is modified by the information that is incorporated back by the actors, nurturing, or not, the continuation of the migration process due to its impact in the areas of both origin and reception (Mabogunje, 1970; Massey et al., 1998; Bilsborrow and Zlotnik, 1995). The literature has pointed to the central role of migrant networks in transmitting feedback. These are a form of social capital composed of “institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition or in other words, to membership in a group” (de Haas, 2010, p. 1589). As Massey et al. (1998) explain, the support provided by informal migrant networks for successive migrants decreases the costs of migration, easing the process of migrating and settling in the destination.

Moroccans in Portugal: The Role of Networks with the Home Country in Migration and Integration Processes

Moroccans are a recent and small migrant group in Portugal, yet they are significantly represented in the agricultural sector. Over 30% are concentrated in Algarve, the most southern region of the country with a more recent presence in Lisbon. Given their recent presence in Portugal, little is known about their process of integration or their migration experiences. This chapter has two main objectives. First, we provide a reading of the characteristics of Moroccan migrants in the Algarve and their integration. Second, we explore the role that network ties have in perpetuating migration to Portugal. In particular, we examine the role of current migrants in providing feedback and assistance to new/potential migrants considering migrating to Portugal. According to migration theory, migration increases over time as networks and social structures are established to sustain it (Massey et al. 1998). Such ties link migrants and non-migrants between origin and destination countries and may be helpful for organizing the process of migration and integration. To examine these processes, we draw on a survey conducted with 207 Moroccan migrants in the Algarve and 51 semi-structured interviews with Moroccan migrants and key informants conducted in the Algarve and Lisbon regions in the scope of the THEMIS (2011) and MEDCHANGe projects (2014/2015). Our findings identify important factors that have structured Moroccan migration including collective hiring schemes in agriculture and social networks. However, the effects of the economic and financial crisis seem to be resulting in stabilization or even decline of the migratory flow.

Ageing and Migration: Some Reflexions on the Effects of the Economic and Financial Crisis on Demographic Trends in Portuguese Regions

The ageing of the Portuguese population is a long-term trend that began years ago but has become more evident recently. The results from the 2011 Census show a country with an old age dependency ratio of 28.9, well above the EU27 average, an index of renewal of the active population close to 94.34, and a declining proportion of young people. The 2% population growth between 2001 and 2011 was possible due to the increase of foreign citizens in Portugal. According to Statistics Portugal, 82.4% of the foreign citizens are aged between 15 and 64 and only 5% are 65 or older. In 2010, 12.6% of all births were from foreign parents.