The evolution of the migration industry – how have employers been supported in sourcing their workforce?

ABSTRACT

The migration industry consists of actors and organisations (e.g. agents, brokers, agencies, corporations) through which migration is facilitated, organised, and accelerated. Although the migration industry gained prominence in the late 20th century within labour mobility, it has relatively rarely been the subject of historical analysis. This historiographical essay argues that employers’ needs and demands for foreign workers, often ad-hoc, have triggered the emergence and development of the migration industry. Rooted in modern historical debates on labour migration, this essay aims to critically assess various forms of cooperation between employers and commercial actors worldwide and place those strategies within the migration industry. Inspired by dichotomous approach to capturing the relationships identified between employers and actors in the migration industry (i.e. agents and partners), this essay investigates the larger spectrum of types of relationships that have taken place historically. We argue that since the mid-19th century, we have witnessed an evolution of these relationships: from acting as a provider of labour (supplier or agent) to a greater professionalisation and consolidation of the relationship between employers and actors in the migration industry (partners and then allies).

KEYWORDS:

• Migration industry
• labour migration
• brokers
• employers
• intermediaries
• migrant workers

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Professor Marek Okólski and Dr Dominika Pszczółkowska for kind support and all suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Mostly economic benefits.

2. Kangani refers to a labourer already employed on the plantation who was delegated by the employer to recruit further workers, usually among their local ethnic community.

Additional information

Funding

This article presents results of the project „Employer interests as a neglected factor in labour migration”, funded by the National Science Center (2020/39/B/HS4/00885). Additionally, some theoretical reflections were obtained from the project “Determinants of the migration industry in Central and Eastern Europe on the example of the labour migration intermediation system in Poland, Belarus and Ukraine”, funded by the University of Warsaw, Excellence Initiative – Research University.

Notes on contributors

Kamil Matuszczyk

Kamil Matuszczyk holds PhD in Political Science and Administration and MA in Social Policy. He is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies, University of Warsaw and researcher at the Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw. Her research interests lay within the field of labour mobility, care economy, employment relations, labour market and migration industry.

Sara Bojarczuk

Sara Bojarczuk holds PhD in Sociology from Trinity College Dublin and MRes in Social Policy (University of Bath). Her research interests lay within the field of migration, family studies and women, social support and particularly social support networks and employment. She is an assistant professor at the Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw and post-doc in the project “Employer interests as a neglected factor in labour migration”.