From boom to bust: Migrant labour and employers in the Irish construction sector

Torben Krings, Alicja Bobek, Elaine Moriarty, Justyna Salamońska and James Wickham
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Torben Krings: Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria/Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, torben.krings@jku.at
Alicja Bobek: Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria/Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Elaine Moriarty: Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria/Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Justyna Salamońska: Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria/Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
James Wickham: Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria/Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Economic and Industrial Democracy, 2011, vol. 32, issue 3, 459-476

Abstract: This article analyses labour migration through a case study of migrants and employers in the Irish construction sector. It seeks to locate the choices of both sides of the employment relationship in a broader socioeconomic context that takes into account the regulatory environment and the labour market situation. The authors show how both sides of the employment relationship took advantage of Ireland’s open labour market policy in 2004. As employers were keen to fill skill and labour shortages in a buoyant construction sector, migrants found employment with relative ease, often involving subcontracting arrangements and informal recruitment patterns. During the boom years the sector provided considerable opportunities for migrants at different skill levels. However, now that the sector has moved from ‘boom to bust’, the employment context has dramatically changed. In the light of large-scale job losses the bargaining position of employers has increased as migrants try to cope with deteriorating employment conditions.

Keywords: employers; EU enlargement; Ireland; migrant workers; recession (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:32:y:2011:i:3:p:459-476

DOI: 10.1177/0143831X10387651

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