Challenges for Labour Market Integration in Hungary:

Opportunities and Limits for third country nationals

A munkaerő-piaci integráció kihívásai Magyarországon

A harmadik országbeli munkavállalók beilleszkedésének esélyei és korlátai

Készült az Európai Unió Európai I ntegrációs Alapjának támogatásával

Készült az Európai Unió Európai I ntegrációs Alapjának támogatásával

PPéétteerr MMaakkaarraa

Scope, purposes and conceptual framework of the project

27th June, Central European University

I. Concepts

Starting point I.

Though permanent migration remains significant,

international migration today is increasingly

temporary, short-term, circular and multidirectional.

As this trend continues, countries, like Hungary, that

were once relatively unaffected by migration are

seeing this phenomenon as a challenge, highlighting

the need for migrant integration efforts to be flexible

and responsive to the new situation..

Starting point II

The process of migrant integration can

sometimes generate public anxiety and at times

fear, especially during periods of economic

downturn.

With unemployment persisting in Hungary migrants

are sometimes perceived as competitors for jobs,

exerting downward pressure on salaries, and as a

burden on the welfare system.

Starting point III.

These perceptions are largely unfounded.• migrants tend to concentrate in just a few sectors (construction, saisonal work in agriculture, special commercial activities, domestic services, and health care) and• these sectors tend to be those in which there is a deficit in the Hungarian labour market, so that migrants most often fill jobs unfilled by the local population.

The concept of integration

.

Four basic forms of social integration:

•acculturation,

•placement,

•interaction and

•identification

Acculturation.

Acculturation (socialization) is

the process by which an individual acquires the

knowledge, cultural standards and competencies

needed to interact successfully in a society.

Structural integration

Structual integration means an individual gaining a position in society – in the educational or economic systems, in the professions, or as a citizen. Placement also implies the acquisition of rights associated with particular positions and the opportunity to establish social relations and to win cultural, social and economic capital. Acculturation is a precondition for placement.

Interaction

Interaction is the formation of relationships and

networks, by individuals who share a mutual

orientation. These include friendships, romantic

relationships or marriages, or more general

membership of social groups.

Identification

Identification refers to an individual’s identification with a social system: the person sees him or herself as part of a collective body. Identification has both cognitive and emotional aspects.These four forms of social integration are relevant for the later definition of dimensions of immigrant integration.

Prospectives

The following distinctions may be made when studying the relations between incoming groups and a native population:• the social integration of migrants into the existing systems of the receiving society;• the consequences of social integration for the social structures of the receiving societies;• the consequences of social integration (or partial or non-integration) for the societal integration or system integration of the receiving society 

Structural integration

Structural integration means the acquisition of rights and the access to position and status in the core institutions of the host society: the economy and labour market, education and qualification systems, the housing system, welfare state institutions (including the health system), and full political citizenship. These are ‘core’ institutions as participation in them determines a person’s socioeconomic status and the opportunities and resources available to them..

Cultural integration

Immigrants can only claim rights and assume positions in their new society if they acquire the core competencies of that culture and society. In this respect, integration refers to an individual’s cognitive, behavioural and attitudinal change: this is termed cultural integration (or acculturation). While cultural integration primarily concerns the immigrants and their children and grandchildren, it is also an interactive, mutual process – one that changes the host society, which must learn new ways of relating to immigrants and adapting to their needs.

Interactive integration

Interactive integration means the acceptance and inclusion of

immigrants in the primary relationships and social

networks of the host society.Indicators of interactive

integration include social networks, friendships, partnerships,

marriages and membership in voluntary organizations. Certain

core elements of cultural integration, particularly communicative

competencies, are preconditions for interactive integration. In

the first phase of the integration process, interactive integration

into the social systems of the ethnic colony is a help to

immigrants – through the support and solidarity of relatives and

co-ethnics, and through their sharing of information and

experiences.

Identificational integration

It is possible to participate in a host society without identifying with the goals of its institutions and without having developed a feeling of belonging to the host society. This feeling of belonging may develop later in the integration process develop as a result of participation and acceptance. Inclusion in a new society on the subjective level – identificational integration – is indicated by feelings of belonging to, and identification with, groups, particularly in ethnic, regional, local and/or national identification.

.

Social integration I.

Social integration can be defined as the inclusion and acceptance of immigrants into the core institutions, relationships and positions of a host society. Integration is an interactive process between immigrants and the host society. For the immigrants, integration means the process of learning a new culture, acquiring rights and obligations, gaining access to positions and social status, building personal relationships with members of the host society and forming a feeling of belonging to, and identification with, that society. For the host society, integration means opening up institutions and granting equal opportunities to immigrants. In this interaction, however, the host society has more resources, power and more prestige.

Social integration II.

Integration is not the only possible outcome of the arrival of immigrants into a society. Instead, the reproduction of ethnic identity and integration into an ethnic colony can result in social segregation from the majority culture, in segmented integration into a subculture – typically an urban underclass, or in marginalisation from both the host society and the ethnic colony.

Social integration III.

With continuing immigration, integration is an ongoing process also in Hungary. The policies and requirements or successful integration can be related to the above four dimensions of social integration. Labour market integration is the cornerstone of social integration and the main focus of our research.

.

.

Double faced character

The heterogeneity and the double-faced character of the

present labour market tendencies in Hungary:

•more freedom, broad possibilities, better living and working

conditions from one side,

•3D jobs, undocumented work, social exclusion, discrimination

and increasing inequalities from the other side.

The determinants of labour mobility

The determinants of cross-country labour mobility have multi-level, complex character. They include:

•the unequal geographical and social distribution of resources;macro-economic conditions, as differences in GDP, wage levels and unemployment;

•the relevant policies and regulatory mechanisms at EU, national and regional level;

•the existing historical traditions and prevailing cultural patterns;

•individual factors – socio-demographic characteristics like age, gender, education, household situation, skill-transferability, and personal preferences

•.

Temporary and circular migration

Temporary migration is migration for a specific purpose with the intention to return to the country of origin or move onward. It refers more to a single movement and then limited stay.Circular migration is a mobility act or flow, with a repeat character, a back-and-forth movement between countries: migrants are free to come and go- which is a real possibility and a developing practice for the third country citizens on the European labour market.

There are rapidly developing new forms of circular mobility between EU countries, like expatriation, posting, business migration, transnationalism.

Enterprises

Foreign entrepreneurs and their employees deserve special

attention. Business migration constitutes a category of its

own, and plays an important role in the economy. The

directors, managers, and highly qualified specialists form a

characteristic group of migrants. Without doubt they constitute

rather mobile strata. Representatives of foreign companies

might be considered as “professional” migrants, often

changing the country of immigration.

Posting

Posting is an important labour mobility trend within the EU, a

special form of circular migration. The main feature of posting is

that the employee in the employer’s economic interest changes his

usual workplace temporarily for another, and continues to work

under the employer following the instructions and directions during

the period. Posting relates mainly but not only to the

increasingly multinational activity of enterprises.

Transnationalism

Migration is nowadays increasingly turning into an ongoing movement between two or more social spaces or locations. more and more mobile workers have developed strong transnational ties to more than one home country, blurring the congruence of social space and geographic space.

Those labelled with a new terminology as transnationals, are – mainly, but not without exceptions(Chinese community in Hungary) highly educated, outstanding social status “elite” people are part of broader transnational social, professional networks. They may speak several languages, have specific patterns of way of life and live in more than one country at the same time. They may have emerging new transnational and value systems in accordance with their situation and lifestyles.

Bounded mobility

Bounded mobility means, that the decision maker (on mobility) has to face the uncertainty of changing home and job on the one hand, and the costs of information on the other.

Geographical mobility is strongly influenced by a great variety of factors. The willingness to move differs according to age, gender and housing conditions. Those with little mobile capital (goods or skills) are less mobile than the ones with more capital. The propensity for mobility is decreasing by age and stronger in the case of males. Owning a house ties one to a certain location, especially in the frequent case when between the two real estate prices there is a large difference.

The adult worker model

The traditional male breadwinner model operated with a single earner family, where a man’s responsibility is to work, while a woman is primary responsible for taking care of the children and holding together the family. In this model one adult works full time on the labour-market, while one person is engaged in care-work at home.The adult worker model assumes that the adults – both men and women – are in continuous full time or almost full time employment on the labour market throughout their working years in order to secure their economic independence. This is often combined with existing or desired career opportunities.

Key European labour research areas

Key research areas are:

Labour market developments,

flexicurity,

quality in work,

human capital and skills,

lifecycle approach to work (youth employment, active ageing, exit age, problems of inactivity, etc.),

immigration and employment,

mobility, wages and earnings and undeclared work.

II.About the research

Scope

Title:Challenges of the labour market integration in Hungary: opportunities and limits of the third cujntry nationals

Research Agency: Panta Rhei led by dr. Judit Juhász

Supported by the European Integration Fund

Aims

•Evidence based description and analysis of the state and processes of the labour market, social and cultural integration of the third country nationals

•Analysis of the Hungarian labour market needs for the employment of third country nationals

•Future scenarios and policy options

Methodological considerations

, The dilemmas related to migration research’ evidence base can be summarised as follows:

•employment and labour research uses homogenous samples, where the specificity of national and ethnic minorities and mobile workers does not appear;

•mobile workers may have low response rates in surveys;

•monitoring undocumented mobile workers is difficult,

•measuring the impact of mobile workers’ situation on the quality of living and working conditions is complicated;

•;language and terminology used in surveys may have different meanings for certain groups of mobile workers.

Methodology

Complexity and uncertainty require the use of multiple, complementary methods of information gathering:

•Literature review, secondary analysis of existing statistical data and empirical research,

•Content analysis of the press,

•Survey and in-depht interviews with key informants

•Quantitative survey in the target group, questionnaire and focused interviews with migrants

Implementation in the field

Field activities between September 2010 and April 2011

.

55 specially selected interviewers

444 valid completed questionnaires, average lenght 86 minutes

10 in-depht interviews with migrants

53 expert questionnaires

23 expert focused interviews