Tiziana Nazio

Five Characteristics of Youth Unemployment in Europe: Flexibility, Education, Migration, Family Legacies, and EU Policy

Current levels of youth unemployment need to be understood in the context of increased labor market flexibility, an expansion of higher education, youth migration, and family legacies of long-term unemployment. Compared with previous recessions, European-wide policies and investments have significantly increased with attempts to support national policies. By mapping these developments and debates, we illustrate the different factors shaping the future of European labor markets. We argue that understanding youth unemployment requires a holistic approach that combines an analysis of changes in the economic sphere around labor market flexibility, skills attainment, and employer demand, as well as understanding the impact of family legacies affecting increasingly polarized trajectories for young people today. The success of EU policy initiatives and investments will be shaped by the ability of national actors to implement these effectively.

Understanding Transnational Labour Market Trajectories of African-European Migrants: Evidence from the MAFE Survey.

Labor market trajectories of migrants are seldom explored in a longitudinal and comparative perspective. However, a longitudinal approach is crucial for a better understanding of migrants’ long-term occupational attainments, while comparative research is useful to disentangle specificities and general processes across destination and origin countries. This article explores the labor market outcomes of migrants from Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ghana in different European countries, using the MAFE data to compare their occupational attainments before migration, upon arrival and during the first 10 years of stay in Europe in a longitudinal perspective. Results highlight different pattern of migrants’ selection across destinations, influenced by prior employment status and education, gender and colonial legacies, and which impact subsequent trajectories into the European labor markets. Our analyses also show a severe worsening of migrants’ occupational status in Europe compared to their situation prior to migration, which is the resultant of a dramatic downgrading upon entry and of a slow occupational recovering during the first 10 years of stay in Europe. Results suggest that the educational–occupational mismatch of skilled workers might represent a long-lasting “price” for migrants, unless (further) educational credentials are achieved in destination countries.

Migrants’ Economic Participation in Origin and Destination Countries: The Case of Senegal

This chapter looks at the occupational integration of Senegalese migrants in Europe, their transnational economic participation while abroad and their labour force re-integration upon return. The survey results show how occupational outcomes at destination are primarily influenced by the educational and labour profiles of migrants upon arrival, with the least educated and unskilled going to Spain and Italy, while students and skilled workers mainly choose France as a destination. While Senegalese in France more likely face an initial downgrading but an increase over time in the proportion in skilled employment, Senegalese in Spain largely remain in unskilled jobs, and in Italy a proportion of migrants (albeit a small one) achieve gradual upward mobility. Occupational outcomes also vary markedly according to gender.

Ghanaian Migration: Economic Participation

This chapter explores the integration of Ghanaian migrants in the labour markets of the UK and the Netherlands, their economic investments back in Ghana, and their return and re-integration. It suggests that there are significant differences in the occupational trajectories of Ghanaian migrants in the UK and Netherlands, rooted both in different socio-economic characteristics of migrants moving to the two destinations, and in differences in the receiving contexts. Contrary to concerns expressed elsewhere about so-called ‘brain waste’, data from the MAFE-Ghana survey suggests that in the UK at least, there has been some measure of occupational mobility over time, particularly amongst women. At the same time, as migrants have become more integrated, they have also increased their economic investments and ties with the home country. In contrast, the experience of return has been more ambivalent.

Understanding Afro-European Economic Integration Between Origin and Destination Countries

Migrants’ labour market trajectories are seldom explored from a longitudinal, comparative perspective. However, a longitudinal approach is crucial for a better understanding of migrants’ long-term occupational attainments, while comparative research is useful for disentangling specific features and general processes across national groups and destination and origin countries.

Congolese Migrants’ Economic Trajectories in Europe and After Return

This chapter describes Congolese migrants’ occupational trajectories during their stay in Europe and after their return to DR Congo, as well as their economic contributions to their home country during their stay in Europe. Congolese migrants fare poorly on the labour market in Europe. Employment rates are low, and migrants with a job are much more likely to be in low-skilled jobs when they are living in Europe than when living in DR Congo. Better-educated migrants perform better, but a significant proportion of them are also employed below their level of qualification. Despite their difficulties in integrating into the labour market, a large share of Congolese migrants send money back home. In the Congolese context, where economic conditions have seriously deteriorated since the 1990s, remittances from migrants are an important way of helping families in DR Congo. In contrast, investments and contributions to the non-profit sector are limited, perhaps because of DR Congo’s risky economic environment.