Migration and informal work in the new Berlin: new forms of work or new sources of labour?

J Ethn Migr Stud. 1998 Apr;24(2):269-94. doi: 10.1080/1369183X.1998.9976633.

Abstract

PIP: This article focuses on the growing informalization of work, which refers to the strategies that aim to avoid state control and its identification with new migration streams in Berlin. The growth of unemployment and low-waged precarious jobs in an informal or shadow economy is said to be a result of the influx of new illegal migrants. Although Germany does not consider itself as a country of immigration, continuous exceptions have been made to permit the restricted access of temporary workers. The major patterns for new migration were shaped by policies adopted during post-war reconstruction. Programs were started in connection with the asylum compromise and the transformations in Germany and eastern Europe. The informalization of work has gained a new significance in the post-unification era. In conclusion, the diverse processes of re-structuring, deregulation, and migratory labor movements combined with the total lack of acceptance of the notion that Germany is a country of immigration, have created new sources of undocumented skilled and unskilled labor for an expanding informalized sector of the labor market.

MeSH terms

  • Demography
  • Developed Countries
  • Economics
  • Emigration and Immigration*
  • Employment*
  • Europe
  • Europe, Eastern
  • Evaluation Studies as Topic*
  • Germany
  • Health Workforce
  • Population
  • Population Dynamics
  • Public Policy*
  • Transients and Migrants*