Abstract
Anxiety among European states and publics about undocumented migration has been a feature of the political landscape of European countries since at least the early 1990s. That much is clear. What is perhaps less evident is the concern about “undeclared employment”, which is ironically often conflated with undocumented (read “clandestine”, “irregular”, or “illegal”) migration. There is little doubt that undocumented migration1 and “undeclared employment”2 are related, although as a number of scholars have stressed, undocumented migration does not produce undeclared employment (for example, Castells and Portes, 1989; Wilpert, 1998) and the bulk of undeclared employment is performed by citizens and not migrants, legal or otherwise (for example, Williams, 2009; Williams and Windebank, 1998).3 Nonetheless, each facilitates the other (Castells and Portes, 1989; Quassoli, 1999; Reyneri, 1998; Sassen, 1996, 1998; Wilpert, 1998),4 and it was widely surmised by European institutions, member states of the EU, and the popular press that undocumented migration increased during the 1990s and the early 2000s, although few if any time-series statistics have been available.5 Likewise, undeclared employment is argued to be increasing since the 1970s (see, for example, the data presented by Schneider and Enste, 2000), and its alleged proliferation is now exercising European policy-makers (European Commission, 2006).6 If the growth of both phenomena seems less dizzying now for some European governments, the vigilance of the latter has hardly waned. Witness the cavernous range of reports and studies, at the member state and European levels that have explored the implications of these phenomena. News-ready stories of migrants dying at sea or in the back of trucks, along with tales of unscrupulous employers paying extremely low wages, forcing migrants to work in terrible, and sometimes deadly, working conditions while undercutting citizen workers, have reinforced the image of a Europe besieged by illicit movements and criminal activity. If governments and a wide swathe of the European citizenry are so concerned, what explains the apparent growth of these phenomena? Are they simply beyond control in a world marked by more “intensive” and “extensive” flows of goods, people, capital, and ideas (Held et al., 1999), or are they purposely ignored while at the same time manufactured by states. The literature does not necessarily tell us much.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ambrosini, M. (2001) “The role of immigrants in the Italian labour market”, International Migration, 39, 3, 61–77
Anderson, B., Ruhs, M., Rogaly, B., and Spencer, S. (2006) “Fair enough? Central and East European migrants in low-wage employment in the UK”, Report Prepared for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available at http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/1617-migrants-low-wage-employment.pdf
Balibar, E. and Wallerstein, I. (1991) Race, Nation, Class: ambiguous identities (London: Verso)
Boswell, C. (2007) “Migration control in Europe after 9/11: explaining the absence of securitization”, Journal of Common Market Studies, 45, 3, 589–610
Burgers, J. and Engbersen, G. (1996) “Globalisation, migration, and undocumented immigrants”, New Community, 22, 4, 619–635
CASE collective (2006) “Critical approaches to security in Europe: A networked manifesto”, Security Dialogue, 37, 4, 443–487
Castells, M. (1975) “Immigrant workers and class struggles in advanced capitalism”, Politics and Society, 5, 1, 33–66
Castles, S. and Kosack, G. (1973) Immigrant Workers and Class Structure in Western Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
Castells, M. and Portes, A. (1989) “World underneath: The origins, dynamics, and effects of the informal economy”, in A. Portes, M. Castells, and L.A. Benton (eds.) The Informal Economy: Studies in Advanced and Less Developed Economies (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press)
Cholewinski, R. (2000) “The EU acquis on irregular migration: reinforcing security at the expense of rights”, European Journal of Migration and Law, 2, 361–405
CNLTI (Commission Nationale de lutte contre le Travail Illegal). Dossier de presse, 21 March 2007
CNLTI (Commission Nationale de lutte contre le Travail Illegal). Dossier de presse, 26 November 2009
Cornelius, W, Martin, P.L. and Hollifield, J. (1994) “Introduction: the ambivalent quest for immigration control”, in Cornelius, W, Martin, P.L, and Hollifield, J. (eds.) Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective (Stanford: Stanford University Press)
Dikec, M. (2007) Badlands of the Republic (London: Royal Geographical Society)
DILTI (2004) Commission national de lutte contre le travail illegal. 18 June
Droits Devant!! (1999) Liberté, égalité, sans papiers, Paris: L’esprit frappeur
Einaudi, L. (2007) Le Politiche dell’Immigrazione in Italia dall’Unita’ a Oggi (Rome: Laterza)
Eurofound (2008) National committee for the formalisation of irregular work, Italy. Document available at http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/areas/labourmarket/tackling/cases/it007.htm (accessed on 26 March 2010)
Eurofound (29 October 2009) Coordinated strategy again undeclared work, France, document available at “L’année 1997 correspond par ailleurs à un changement dans la politique de lutte contre le travail illégal, avec la création des COLTI” (Comité Opérationnel de Lutte contre le Travail Illégal), http://www.colti.fr (accessed 26 March 2010)
European Commission (2006) “Communication from the Commission on Policy Priorities in the Fight against Illegal Immigration of Third-Country Nationals”. COM/2006/0402
Favell, A., and Hansen, R. (2002) “Markets against politics: migration, EU enlargement and the idea of Europe”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 28, 4, 581–601
Freeman, G. (1995) “Modes of immigration politics in liberal democratic states”, International Migration Review, 29, 881–902
Finotelli, C. (2009) “The North-South myth revised: A comparison of the Italian and German migration regimes”, West European Politics, 32, 5, 886–903
Finotelli, C., and Sciortino, G. (2009) “The importance of being southern: The making of policies in immigration control in Italy”, European Journal of Migration and Law, 11, 119–138
Geddes, A. (2000) Immigration and European integration. (Manchester: Manchester University Press)
Geddes, A. (2008) “Il rombo dei cannoni? Immigration and the centre-right in Italy”, Journal of European Public Policy, 15, 3, 349–366
Granotier, B. (1970) Les travailleurs immigres en France. (Paris: Francois Maspero)
Guiraudon, V. (2000) “European integration and migration policy: vertical policymaking as venue shopping”, Journal of Common Market Studies, 38, 2, 251–271
Guiraudon, V., and Lahav, G. (2000) “A reappraisal of the state sovereignty debate: the case of migration control”, Comparative Political Studies, 33, 2, 163–195
Held, D. McGrew, A. Goldblatt, D. and Perraton, J. (eds.) (1999) Global Transformations (Cambridge: Polity Press)
Hepburn, E. (2009) “Regionalist party mobilisation on immigration”, West European Politics, 32, 3, 514–535
Huysmans, J. (2000) “The European Union and the securitization of migration”, Journal of Common Market Studies, 38, 5, 751–777
Jahn, A., and Straubhaar, T. (1999) “A survey of the economics of illegal migration”, in Baldwin-Edwards, M., and Arango, J. (eds.) Immigrants and the Informal Economy in Southern Europe, (London: Frank Cass)
Joppke, C. (1998) “Why liberal states accept unwanted immigration”, World Politics, 50, 266–293
Kofman, E. (2004) “Family-related migration: a critical review of European studies”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 30, 2, 243–262
Kofman, E. (2008) “Managing migration and citizenship in Europe: towards an overarching framework”, in Gabriel, C. and Pellerin, H. (eds.) Governing International Labour Migration: Current Issues, Challenges and Dilemmas (London and New York: Routledge)
Lahav, G. (1998) “Immigration and the State: the devolution and privatisation of immigration control in the EU”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 24, 4, 675–694
Laubenthal, B. (2007) “The emergence of pro-regularization movements in Western Europe”, International Migration, 45, 3, 101–133
Le Monde (7 January 2010) “29,000 sans-papiers expulses en 2009 par la France”
Le Monde (25 January 2010) “Clandestins de Bonifacio: une affaire traitee ‘avec precipitation’”
Le Monde (7 February 2010) “A Calais, le hangar ou s’etaient refugies une centaine de clandestins evacuee par la police”
Le Monde (26 January 2010) “Tous les clandestins de Bonifacio sont libres”
Marie, C-V. (2000) “Measures taken to combat the employment of undocumented foreign workers in France: their place in the campaign against illegal employment and their results”, in OECD (ed.) Combating the Illegal Employment of Foreign Workers (Paris: OECD)
Marthaler, S. (2006) “Nicolas Sarkozy and the politics of French immigration policy”, Journal of European Public Policy, 15, 3, 382–397
Menz, G. (2008) The Political Economy of Managed Migration (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
Miles, R. (1982) Racism and Migrant Labour (London: Routledge)
Nare, L. (2008) “The informal economy of paid domestic work — The Case of Ukrainian and Polish migrants in Naples”, in M. Bommes and G. Sciortino (eds.) Foggy Social Structures: Irregular Migration and the Eastern Enlargement (Amsterdam: IMISCOE)
Papastergiadis, N. (2006) “The invasion complex: the abject other and spaces of violence”, Geografiskar Annaler, 88 B, 4, 429–442
Pugliese, E. (1993) “Restructuring of the labour market and the role of third world migrations in Europe”, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 11, 5, 513–522
Quassoli, F. (1999) “Migrants in the Italian underground economy”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 23, 2, 212–231
Reyneri, E. (1998) “The role of the underground economy in irregular migration to Italy: cause or effect?”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 24, 2, 313–331
Reyneri, E. (2001) Migrants in Irregular Employment in the Mediterranean Countries of the European Union, International Migration Papers, no. 41 (Geneva: ILO)
Samers, M. (2003) “Invisible capitalism: political economy and the regulation of undocumented immigration in France”, Economy and Society, 32, 4, 555–583
Samers, M. (2004) “An emerging geopolitics of ‘illegal’ immigration in the European Union”, European Journal of Migration and Law, 6, 27–45
Samers, M. (2005) “The underground economy, immigration and economic development in the European Union: an agnostic-skeptic perspective”, International Journal of Economic Development, 6, 3, 199–272
Sassen, S. (1996) “New Employment Regimes in Cities: the impact on immigrant workers”, New Community, 22, 4, 579–594
Sassen, S. (1998) Globalization and its Discontents (New York: New Press)
Schneider, E and Enste, D. (2000) “Shadow Economies: Size, Causes, and Consequences”, Journal of Economic Literature, 38, 77–114
Schuster, L. (2005) “A sledgehammer to crack a nut: Deportation, detention and dispersal in Europe”, Social Policy and Administration, 39, 6, 606–621
Soysal, Y. (1994). Limits of Citizenship (Chicago: University of Chicago Press)
Tanaka, H. (2007) “Immigration and the 2007 French Presidential Elections”, Migration Policy Institute, May, No. 3
Tesfahuny, M. (1998) “Mobility, Racism, and Geopolitics”, Political Geography, 17, 5, 499–515
Tripier, M. (1990) La classe ouvriere en France (Paris: L’Harmattan)
Walters, W. (2008) “Anti-illegal immigration policy”, in C. Gabriel and H. Pellerin (eds.) Governing International Labour Migration: Current Issues, Challenges and Dilemmas (London and New York: Routledge)
Weil, P. (1991) La France et ses étrangers (Paris: Calmann-Levy)
Williams, C.C. (2009) “The Hidden Economy in East Central Europe”, Problems of Post-Communism, 56, 4, 15–28
Williams, C.C. and Windebank, J. (1998) Informal Employment in Advanced Economies (London: Routledge)
Wilpert, C. (1998) “Migration and informal work in the new Berlin: new forms of work or new sources of labour?”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 24, 2, 269–294
Zappi, S. (2002) “After protests, France’s undocumented community hopes for permits”, Migration Information Source, available at http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=67 (accessed 3 April 2010)
Zincone, G. (2006) “The making of policies: immigration and immigrants in Italy”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 32, 3, 347–375
Zolberg, A.R. (2002) “Guarding the gates”, on-line paper available at http://www.newschool.edu/icmec/guardingthegates.html
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2010 Michael Samers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Samers, M. (2010). Strange Castle Walls and Courtyards: Explaining the Political Economy of Undocumented Immigration and Undeclared Employment. In: Menz, G., Caviedes, A. (eds) Labour Migration in Europe. Migration, Minorities and Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230292536_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230292536_9
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-32458-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-29253-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)