Управление миграционными процессами в трудовой сфере. Монография

In 1999, a total of 227 249 domestic workers were registered with the Italian Department of Social Security (INPS), half of whom were immigrants from countries outside the EU (Caritas di Roma 2002). Once again, the figures point to a pronounced concentration of this sector in certain regions, with the central region accounting for 41.6% of all domestic workers and the north-west region accounting for 34.4% (Caritas di Roma 2002).

As far as Spain is concerned, immigrants made up almost 35% of the total number of people registered with the Department of Social Security's Special Regime for Domestic Workers (REEH) in 2001, with some 54 496 workers out of a total of 155 900 (MTAS 2002). The distribution of migrant domestic workers is far from even, and is concentrated in the Madrid region (48.7%) and the province of Barcelona (17.4%). Colectivo IOÉ (2001: 450) estimates that in 1999 there were some 600 000 domestic workers in total, including workers not registered with the Department of Social Security. Out of this total of 600 000, Colectivo IOÉ (2001) calculates that almost 107 000 or nearly 18% are female migrant domestic workers (this figure includes both workers registered with the Department of Social Security and those who are not registered, as well as those who have acquired Spanish citizenship).

According to the official statistics, in both Spain and Italy migrant domestic workers are mainly women, although the percentage of men has increased in recent years particularly among immigrants from the Philippines and Latin America (Dominicans, Peruvians, etc) and from non-EU European countries. In Spain, almost 90% of foreign domestic workers are women, whereas in Italy the figure is lower overall (77.8%) with the highest percentage in the case of Latin American women (87.9%) and the lowest percentage in the case of domestic workers from the Philippines (73.17c) (Caritas di Roma 2002).

A breakdown of the country of origin of non-EU workers registered as domestic workers with the Italian Department of Social Security shows that in 1999, 43.1% were from Asia, with the main country of origin being the Philippines (32.1%). Another Asian country that deserves a mention is Sri Lanka, which accounted for 8.6% of the total. Workers from Latin America made up almost 20%, with 10.4% from Peru, 2.6% from the Dominican Republic and 2.5% from Ecuador. Africa was also a significant source of workers, accounting for 17.2% of the total, the most important countries in percentage terms being Morocco, Ethiopia, Somalia and Cape Verde. Finally a significant number of migrant domestic workers also came from eastern

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Europe (16.7%), the main countries being Romania (4.9%), Poland (4.0%) and Albania (4.0%) (Caritas di Roma 2002).

In Spain, the breakdown by country of origin for migrant domestic workers registered with the Department of Social Security's Special Regime for Domestic Workers in 1999 shows that more than half come from Latin America (54.4%). The most important countries are the Dominican Republic (16.7%) and Peru (16.5%), followed by Ecuador (8.5%) and Colombia (4.7%). In contrast to Italy, the country providing the largest number of workers is Morocco, which accounts for 16.8% of the total, although this figure is very similar to the percentages for the Dominican Republic and Peru. Moroccan domestic workers are almost exclusively women who for cultural reasons avoid working as live-in domestic workers14. Workers from the Philippines are the fourth largest group, accounting for 12% of the total, although their presence is not as significant as in Italy where they are the largest group. Finally, the numbers of domestic workers from Eastern Europe are rising steadily, although they still account for a much lower percentage (5.3%) than in Italy (Colectivo IOÉ 2001).

Immigration policy in Spain and Italy also contributes to promoting the concentration of immigrant women in the domestic service sector. In Spain, the policy of immigration quotas, whereby an annual limit is set on the number of migrant workers in order to regulate the flow of non-EU migrant workers into Spain, has repeatedly confirmed this assertion since it was established in 1993. An analysis by sector of the annual quotas reveals that female migrant domestic workers are at the very core of this policy, since about 50% of the annual quota are filled by domestic workers. This points to the fact that there is an insufficient supply of labour within Spain to meet the demand for this type of work. It also has clear social and professional implications for immigrant women, since it means that domestic work is virtually the only legal means that is available to them for entering the labour market. Consequently, the quotas policy represents the acceptance at institutional level of the existence of a demand for domestic workers which will be met mainly by women (Oso 1998). This situation has an effect on

14 It is important to note that although Moroccan women are the most numerous group in absolute terms in Spain (accounting for 15.2% of all women with a residence permit), the percentage of women among Moroccan immigrants as a whole is actually low, standing at 32.2% according to Minstry of the Interior figures for 31 December 2001.

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the composition of migration flows and on migration strategies, acting as a pull factor which encourages women to migrate to Spain on their own.

Andall (2000) describes how, after the 1990 Immigration Act was passed in Italy with the main aim of controlling the number of immigrants entering the country, special arrangements were introduced in order to ensure that immigrant women could still be recruited as domestic workers. Furthermore, when the government introduced an amnesty allowing illegal immigrant workers to register with the Department of Social Security in 1996, housekeeping was the sector in which most workers came forward, accounting for 40% of all new registrations (Reyneri 2001). According to Ambrosini (1999), female migrant domestic workers are the group of illegal immigrants that enjoys the easiest access to government amnesties and therefore they do not conform to the typical stereotype of illegal immigrants in Italy who are seen as dangerous individuals involved in illegal activities.

At the same time, both Italy and Spain are witnessing a segmentation of domestic work along ethnic lines, since it is the least secure, least regulated form of domestic work with the lowest social status and the worst working conditions, as well as the strongest associations with servitude, which have become the preserve of foreign workers (Parella 2003). Indeed, to quote the sociologists Christine Catarino and Laura Oso, we are witnessing'(...) the gradual ethnification of childcare services' (2000: 2). In both countries, livein domestic work is currently almost exclusively carried out by immigrant women.

Local domestic workers are not prepared to do a job that means they are unable to return to their homes every day and have their own family life, and they therefore work mostly as live out domestic workers. In Spain, according to the results of the above-mentioned survey carried out by Colectivo IOE (2001:306), some 60.6% of domestic workers from Ecuador, 55.3% of those from the Philippines, 47.6% of Dominicans and 42% of Peruvians work on a live-in basis. Many of these workers are married women who have emigrated on their own as part of their family unit's strategy to ensure the economic subsistence of the whole family group. They are the main income providers for their family, which usually remains in their country of origin, with the children being looked after by other women in the family – as such, they can be described as transnational households. Being employed as live-in domestic workers enables even those immigrant women who are working illegally to maximise the amount of money they save and to send money home on a regular basis, since they do not have to pay for their own

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food and accommodation. The Colectivo IOÉ (2001) points out that live-in domestic work better enables them to meet the economic aims of migration, although at the cost of having almost no life at all outside paid employment.

In terms of occupational mobility, an immigrant woman's prospects of changing to a job in another sector depend on a whole range of factors, the most important of which are her education, the aims of her migration and the amount of time that she has spent in the host society, family networks, how well she speaks the language, and her position within the family structure. Nevertheless, for many foreign live-in domestic workers, particularly African women who emigrated to Italy during the 1960s and 1970s, domestic work ends up becoming their only profession (Andall 2003). Andall (2000) suggests that it is precisely the huge demand in this sector which makes it difficult for immigrant women to find work in other sectors. The most they can aspire to is to change from live-in domestic work to live-out work. It is only in recent years that the first signs have begun to emerge of mobility towards other sectors such as hotels and catering and retail. In many cases, the only way of leaving live-in domestic service in the lessdeveloped southern regions of Italy is to move to the more economically developed regions where the economy is more diversified.

As far as Spain is concerned, the highest levels of live-in domestic workers are found among women who have only recently arrived in the country. The longer a woman has lived in the host society, the greater her chances of being employed in other types of domestic work which offer her more independence (e.g. as a full-time live-out domestic worker, working on an hourly basis, or working for a domestic services agency). Occupational mobility is very limited for immigrant women15. The results of a survey carried out by the University Institute for Migration Studies suggest that slightly fewer immigrant women are employed as domestic workers later on in their careers than at the beginning, which may be an indication of the first signs of mobility towards other forms of employment (Anguiano 2001). However, the only two alternative kinds of work to appear with any frequency are the hotel and catering industry and, to a lesser extent, the retail trade. The lack of 'alternative' job prospects for immigrant women has encouraged many of them, particularly those who wish to settle permanently in the host society, to consider self-employment as a means of achieving occupational mobility

15 According to the survey carried out by the Colectivo IOÉ (2001), nearly 82% of female migrant domestic workers had never changed their occupation

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in the medium term, once they have got enough money together to start their own business (Solé and Parella 2001).

Conclusion. This contribution has shown that in Italy and Spain, paid domestic work is the main source of employment for immigrant women from outside the European Union. As far as the structure of this sector is concerned, immigrant women do different kinds of work to that done by local domestic workers. In an internally segmented sector, immigrant women are usually employed as live-in domestic workers, a form of work for which there is a huge demand and where there is a particularly high risk of exploitation and invisibility. This can mainly be put down to the entrenched nature of patriarchal relationships in the countries of southern Europe and the lack of state welfare services allowing people to balance the needs of their family life with those of their work.

The ineffectiveness of the welfare state has meant that the growth in paid domestic work has come about through the creation of 'poor-quality' jobs, often in the informal economy. The drastic improvement in the education of local women and the corresponding increase in what they expect from their job has caused them to leave this sector, creating a demand for labour which has been met by immigrant women whose 'job tolerance threshold' is lower and who are therefore prepared to work for less money, make fewer demands on their employers, and accept working conditions which would be unacceptable to local women. It is thus possible to talk of a transfer of class and race inequalities from one group of women to another. A widening gulf is emerging between educated middle-class local women and a majority of working-class women from non-EU countries who belong to a different social class and have different ethnic origins, and are currently performing the function of a 'service caste' (Andall 2003).

Translation from the Spanish by Joaquin Blasco

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New challenges of transnationalism in the study of migration

Sònia P., Leonardo C.

Spain, Barcelona, UAB

The International Symposium held to explore the ‘new challenges of transnationalism in the study of migration’ was organised in accordance with the wish of GEDINE (Immigration and Ethnic Minorities Study Group of the Sociology Department of the Autonomous University of Barcelona – UAB) to take advantage of the synergies created by its research projects – over its two decades of existence – in order to examine in greater depth an issue that has been current and highly topical in academic debate since the 1990s, namely, the transnational perspective in the study of migration. This is an aspect referred to by both politicians and social scientists, and one on which numerous workshops and conferences have been held, books and articles published, etc. There is indeed an increasing consensus among researchers in recognizing that both the first and subsequent generations of migrants remain, in some cases, strongly influenced by permanent links with their country of origin or by social networks extending beyond national frontiers. The existence of this phenomenon constitutes a crucial dimension for understanding and analysing contemporary migration, its strength, its influence and its impact.

One of the most frequent and deeply rooted images of immigration corresponds to the first historical phases of migratory movements, based on the figures of emigrants who arrive in a new country in order to settle, set up a

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new home and forge new connections such that links with the country of origin diminish and gradually fade. These binary conceptions are no longer appropriate, however, for gaining a picture of current international migration in all its complexity, for, at the present time, migrants develop networks, activities, lifestyles or ideologies that encompass the societies from which they have come as well as those to which they have moved. This fact causes new immigrant profiles to emerge, requiring new conceptualisations.

In considering current international migration it is impossible to disregard the transnational factor. The transnational perspective refers us to the increasing intensity of multi-directional flows of persons, objects, information and symbols. Transnational practices show us how migrants build and rebuild their lives in a manner whereby roots and connections are simultaneously developed and maintained in more than one society. Within the framework based on such linkages, immigrants, in their daily activities, develop new experiences and new fields of social relations. Examination of these transnational practices enables researchers to move beyond the conventional theoretical approximations which take a unidirectional view of migration and which reflect the false premise that immigrants and their descendants necessarily break off their relations and links with their societies of origin.

The transnational perspective applied to contemporary migration is an emerging field of study still awaiting consolidation of a well-defined epistemological and methodological framework of its own. Not all migrants necessarily find themselves involved in social practices of a transnational nature. It is thus appropriate to ask whether all migrants and their descendants do in fact develop transnational practices and to what extent many of the transnational links that can be perceived to exist exert real effects in all the various spheres of their lives. A concern for scientific rigour is thus likely to force recognition that not all migrants see themselves as involved in social practices that are transnational in character. The term transnational is accordingly not synonymous with international, cross-border or multinational. Were it to be used in this way, it would become a trivial concept devoid of heuristic or analytical value. For all these reasons, this symposium sought to move away from generic use of the transnational perspective, which creates theoretical pleonasms and generates confusion through reiterated use of definitions with little theoretical content and scant analytical utility. The symposium contents were thus designed to facilitate – on the basis of a rigorous and precisely honed delimitation of the concept of trans-

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nationalism – reflection on the economic, political, cultural, and social practices, among others, carried out by migrants in a habitual and continuous manner acrossnational borders.

If what we understand by transnationalism is the establishment of links of various kinds between the place of origin or reference and the place of arrival or settlement, then it is indeed true that transnational practices have always been, to a greater or lesser extent, present in migratory movements. This observation notwithstanding, it is equally true that these practices were in the past somewhat exceptional, affecting a very small group of persons, while there can be no doubt that, at the present time, the transnational links have been subject to accelerated multiplication and diversification. This has happened as a result, among other things, of the development of new technologies in the field of transport and communication. Technology represents a definite watershed in the configuration of transnational networks and links and in their varying forms of impact, as well as in the tension between the local and the global dimension. The current features of transnationalism are peculiar to a specific period characterized by technological advances, the evolution of the world economy and the range of strategies and responses available to individuals and groups. Accordingly, the innovative character of transnationalism lies less in the qualitative aspect of the types of links encountered than in their extreme intensity, in the new forms of transaction that have arisen, and in the multiplication of activities and practices requiring contacts over and beyond frontiers.

Although transnational practices among migrants are not new, the present time is characterised by an accelerated multiplication and diversification of what have come to be known as ‘transnational social fields’. Research in the social sciences does not sufficiently succeed – on account of the limitations, both economic and methodological, of many of our projects

– in capturing the pace and speed at which migrants construct and define multi-local transnational social processes and spaces that affect both emigrants and their counterparts who have remained in the countries of origin. This phenomenon gives rise to the need to create fora for debate, such as this symposium, which help to spread the available theoretical knowledge and to exchange empirical findings as well as tentative methodological developments. These fora may contribute to a more effective understanding and observation of contemporary migratory flows.

To this end, we were extremely fortunate that two pioneering researchers in the transnational perspective, namely, Nina Glick Schiller (University of

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