Symposium Context
When the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia – the ‘accession eight’ -- acceded on 1 April 2004 there was uncertainty over what this would mean for the UK’s urban and regional labour markets. According to recent findings (UK Home Office 2006), almost half a million workers from these eight countries have registered for employment in the UK since 1 April 2004. Perhaps predictably, the bulk of these workers found their first jobs in lower-paid occupations, most earning just above the national minimum wage. 60% have been working in the following positions: ‘factory worker’, ‘warehouse operative’, ‘packer’, ‘kitchen and catering assistants’ and ‘cleaner/domestic staff’. In the longer term it is not clear whether some will move up the job ladder, into higher paid positions, stay trapped in the most insecure and routine of jobs, or will return ‘home’, and use their experiences and financial gains to influence the economic trajectory of their countries.
UK cities and regions are, of course, no stranger to migrant workers. Historically, migrants have played important roles in the economic growth these cities and regions have experienced. While the likes of Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle cannot claim to be ‘global cities’ like London, where migrants constitute 35% of the working age population, certain sectors of their economies do appear to be increasingly reliant on migrant labour, as those arriving most recently in the UK have found themselves inserted into radically restructured urban and regional labour markets (May et al 2006; Datta et al. 2006). The ‘post-industrial’ economies of the twenty first century are highly unequal and segmented ones. As manufacturing employment has declined, so the number of workers employed in the service sectors has increased. Much of this growth has taken place at the bottom of the labour market, in often poorly paid and precarious jobs, in those public and private sector reproductive sectors – caring, cleaning, and hospitality – essential to keep cities and regions ‘working’ (Evans et al 2005).
This one day symposium, co-sponsored by the Brooks World Poverty Institute, the European Work and Employment Research Centre and the Jean Monet Centre of Excellence, explored the cultural, economic and social experiences of migrant workers from the ‘accession eight’ countries, as they go about labouring and living in the UK’s cities and regions. It situated these contemporary accounts in the context of past waves of migration and draws connections to the current experiences of migrant workers from other parts of the world. It argued the issues that are raised – in terms of the paid and unpaid labour of migrant workers – are increasingly important, in light of the emphasis the UK government is placing on the role cities and regions must play in increasing the competitiveness of the national economy (HM Treasury 2003). It brought together academics, activists and policy makers from across the social sciences in the format of a small number of formal presentations and a closing roundtable discussion.