Discriminatory labour market experiences of A8 national high skilled workers in the UK

Authors

  • Ibrahim Sirkeci Regent's Centre for Transnational Studies, Regent's University London
  • Necla Acik Regent's Centre for Transnational Studies, Regent's University London
  • Bradley Saunders Prince Mohammad bin Fahd University, Saudi Arabia.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33182/bc.v4i1-2.514

Keywords:

A8 nationals, labour market, discrimination, ethnic groups, religious groups, overqualification

Abstract

Overqualification among migrants, defined as being employed in a job that is below their acquired skill levels through education, is well-known. Recent studies show that overqualification is more likely amongst migrants who work in the older EU15 member states. Similar studies carried out in the UK supports the argument that minorities suffer from ethnic and religious penalties in the labour market, especially among high skilled groups. Despite the relatively high employment rates of A8 migrants in the UK, they tend to be overwhelmingly employed in elementary occupations (i.e. requiring low skill levels) and likely to be underpaid. Very few studies have examined the propensity of overqualification of A8 nationals working in the UK. We have adopted the skills mismatch model to examine the skills level mismatch for the A8 migrants.  Therefore, a time-series analysis was carried out using  the Annual Population Survey for the period of 2005 to 2012 which marks the beginning and end of restrictions for access to the labour market for A8 nationals across the European Union. This has also given us a time span of 8 years during which the UK economy fall into recession from 2007 onwards.. The evidence shows that A8 nationals have been subject to ethnic penalties in the high end of the labour market irrespective of the impact of the financial crisis. It is very common that they take up posts for which they are overqualified, or in other words, overeducated. This is particularly important as discrimination at that level is likely to have negative impact on economic recovery by supressing the full skill and entrepreneurial potential of this particular group in the UK labour market.

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Author Biographies

Ibrahim Sirkeci, Regent's Centre for Transnational Studies, Regent's University London

Prof Ibrahim Sirkeci (PhD, Sheffield, BA Bilkent) is Ria Financial Professor of Transnational Studies and Marketing and the Director of the Regent’s Centre for Transnational Studies (RCTS) at Regent's University London. His research focus on transnational marketing and transnational consumers, human mobility, conflict, human insecurity, remittances, segregation, segmentation, marketing of business schools, and mobile consumers. Prof Sirkeci’s most recent book is titled Transnational Marketing for Transnational Consumers in the 21stCentury (by Springer, 2013). He is also author ofCultures of Migration, The Global Nature of Contemporary Mobility (by University of Texas Press, 2011), Migration and Remittances during the Global Financial Crisis and Beyond(by The World Bank, 2012), and The Environment of Insecurity in Turkey and the Emigration of Turkish Kurds to Germany (by Edwin Mellen Press, 2006). Prof Sirkeci is the editor ofMigration Letters,Transnational Marketing Journal, and Göç Dergisiwhile serving on editorial boards of several other peer-reviewed journals.

Necla Acik, Regent's Centre for Transnational Studies, Regent's University London

Dr Necla Acik is a Visiting Research Fellow at Regent’s Centre for Transnational Studies, Regent’s University London, UK.

Bradley Saunders, Prince Mohammad bin Fahd University, Saudi Arabia.

Dr Bradley Saunders is Assistant Professor at Prince Mohammad bin Fahd University, Saudi Arabia.

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Published

2014-09-18

How to Cite

Sirkeci, I., Acik, N. and Saunders, B. (2014) “Discriminatory labour market experiences of A8 national high skilled workers in the UK”, Border Crossing. London, UK, 4(1-2), pp. 17–31. doi: 10.33182/bc.v4i1-2.514.

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