ACCESS TO THE LABOUR MARKET FROM THIRD
COUNTRY CITIZENS
Working document for the thematic workshop of Trikala
Wednesday, the 22nd of May 2013
1. Introduction
Greece, a traditional country of sending immigrants for many
decades (emigration country) from the beginnings of the 20th
century, turned suddenly into a country of receiving immigrants
immigration (immigration country) amid the historical events
that took place in Eastern Europe about two decades ago.
The integration of immigrants in employment, in the case of
Greece, followed a logical and more or less predictable path,
given the peculiarity that governs both the domestic labor
market and the economy but also the migration phenomenon, as
it developed by the end of 1980s until today.
There is no doubt that the special characteristics of the
employment of immigrants have been and are still formulated in
a "self-regulated" manner. This general observation on the
evolution of migration in Greece is due to two main factors:
i) to a particular economic environment where on the one hand,
increased demand for (unskilled) labor and widespread tolerance
to phenomena of illegal entry and stay of immigrants,
undeclared work and the resulting evasion of pension/insurance
fees. This environment is formed by: a) the specific needs of the
Greek economy, b) the general development plan of the country,
c) the existing structure of employment and terms of labor , d)
the historical decision to undertake the Olympic Games in 2004.
ii) to the secondary and complementary role of the State
intervention in determining the conditions of entry, residence
and employment of hundreds of thousands of economic
migrants. Specifically, the State attempted to regulate the
residence status and employment of immigrant ten years after
the massive entry of the majority of the immigrant population
(1997, 2001), when the real situation had been fully formed.
Moreover, the migration policy is made independently, without
being directly correlated to the strategic objectives relating to
employment, the labor law reform or the sustainability of the
Social Security System (SSS).
Two important parameters are due to this second factor
(secondary and complementary role of the State intervention in
the migration issue) which should be taken into account before
attempting to address the issue of integration and access of
immigrants to employment.
One is the significant lack of systematic and reliable recording
of qualitative and quantitative data of the employment of
immigrants from the relevant government authorities and
agencies.
Moreover, just because the official figures are incomplete, all
independent scholars and research institutions that rely on them,
point out that the results should always be assessed with caution.
Equally, those conducting separate and independent field
investigations, are de facto restricted to conclusions based on
sample data.
Finally, the extent of non-reported employment (undeclared
work) not only of undeclared migrants, but also of the majority
of regular immigrants, does not allow the examination of the
issue of irregular migration as an incidental or secondary matter.
The high percentage of undeclared immigrants in the total
immigrant population and the key features that govern the legal
status of the renewal of residence permits require equal
consideration of the issues of immigrant access to employment
and accessibility to the labor force as a major issue with regards
to the adequacy of integration policies in the labor market.
Often the terms "immigrant" and "alien" are identical, thus not
considered separately the case of hundreds of thousands of
foreign expatriates (from the former Soviet Union and Albania),
which: a) have different characteristics with regards to their
accessibility in the labor market ( special status of residence
permits), b) deal in practice with different problems of entering
the labor market compared with other foreigners and c)
gradually acquire Greek citizenship and are classified as
nationals who have been born abroad (foreign born nationals).
It is clear that social inclusion, social cohesion and combating
discrimination hereinafter will refer as complementary and
parenthetically of the official EU texts on migration and with
sole purpose the legalizing of all future defensive political
approaches.
Recent developments in the field of European migration strategy
one the one hand cannot be assessed independently of the
overall effort, paid in order to enforce the axiom of flexicurity
and the reduction of labor protection, which traditionally was
guaranteed by the respect of social legislation and on the other
hand they guarantee the reinforcement of geographical and
social areas of reduced rights in all countries because of
difficulty in accessing legal residence status and work status,
resulting in expected intensity of the phenomena of social
exclusion and generalized discrimination in employment across
the European space.
In other words, not only absent reflection to promote one or
another "model" of immigrant integration (Joppke, 2007), but
the matter is placed now on a temporary base not of actual
“integration” but of “integration-ability” on their own
responsibility and through the fulfillment of certain conditions,
to be imposed by Member States, such as, in particular, the
certification of the potential supply of labor to cover national or
sectoral economic and developmental goals.
It is certain that in the coming decades, the phenomenon of
illegal migration to Europe (illegal entry and illegal residence)
due to demographic factors, environmental and economic nature
and global reach will be intensified and will contribute to the
strengthening of undeclared employment in all member
countries. Insisting on engagement of highly skilled workers
should not prohibit the efforts for the regulation of undeclared
employment of irregular migrants, who are currently in the
European labor market or who will move into this in the time to
come.
The priority of the (re)-regulation of terms of labor for the
undeclared or the “about to be undeclared” immigrants dictates
the need for specific and customized regulation which will not
comply as a an "other" or "parallel" strategic objective, but an
integral part of a new social policy which seeks, among others,
the overall combat of undeclared employment.