Varieties of Capitalism, Variation in Labour Immigration

Abstract

Existing theories of labour migration are inadequate explanations for variation in levels and types of economic immigration across states. I argue that socio-economic regime variation has contributed to quantitative and qualitative variation in migrant labour across Western Europe over recent decades. Western European economic and labour market institutions generate low-paid, low-skilled employment—where migrant workers tend to concentrate—to different degrees. Furthermore, welfare and education and training institutions shape the domestic supply of labour in diverse ways across Western Europe, which has consequences for the quantity and skillset of economic migrants required.