0000000000818526
AUTHOR
Ilona Bontenbal
Legal Issues Affecting Labour Market Integration of Migrants in Finland
AbstractFinland has only relatively recently become a country of immigration, and as a result most immigration and integration policy legislation is also relatively recent. Since the 1990s, the number of migrants to Finland has increased steadily, motivating the adoption of various policy measures to regulate migration and support integration. From the perspective of migrant labour market integration, the two most important legislative acts are the Aliens Act (FINLEX 301/2004) and the Act on the Promotion of Immigrant Integration (FINLEX 1386/2010), which lay out basic labour market integration supports for migrants, and determine who can work in Finland and on which grounds. Finland’s comp…
Welfare regimes and labour market integration policies in Europe
This chapter discusses migrant labour market integration policies and services in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Finland, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and thus we present a wide variety of different national contexts. In addition, it also details EU-specific policies and programmes. The empirical work underpinning this chapter emanates from two main research tasks: policy discourse analysis; and assessment of existing policies and their outcomes. A policy discourse analysis was conducted across the selected countries to identify and analyse how issues of labour market integration are discussed by policymakers and policy actors. By analysing the findings of the discourse …
Rethinking the Role of Volunteering in the Labor Market Inclusion of Migrants
In this article, we critically investigate the role that volunteering can have in the labor market inclusion of migrants. We consider how volunteering can both enhance and hinder inclusion through a comparison of two different contexts: Finland and the United Kingdom, where both welfare state and migration regimes are differently shaped. We also question whether volunteering to gain work experience can be defined as “volunteering” or whether it corresponds more with a definition of unpaid labor. Our research is based on 104 interviews with migrants (including refugees and asylum seekers) from various nationalities. We find that volunteering is used in both countries as a way to gain work e…
Kehitysyhteistyön oikeuttaminen : tutkimus siitä kuinka Suomen kehitysyhteistyötä on oikeutettu ulkoasiainministeriössä 2000-2014
Suomen virallinen kehityspolitiikka ja kehitysyhteistyö ovat osana Suomen ulko- ja turvallisuuspolitiikkaa, jota johtaa ulkoasiainministeriö. Osana valtion toimintaa on kehitysyhteistyön oltava perusteltua, jotta sitä voidaan rahoittaa valtion budjetista. Tässä lähihistorian tutkielmassa selvitetään, miten Suomen kehityspolitiikkaa johtava ulkoasiainministeriö on oikeuttanut toimintaansa eli millaisia erilaisia perusteita ulkoasiainministeriö on antanut harjoittamalleen kehitysyhteistyölle ja millaisiin asioihin ja teemoihin se viittaa oikeuttaessaan kehitysyhteistyön harjoittamista vuosina 2000–2014. Tutkielmassa selvitetään myös, ovatko oikeutukset muuttuneet tutkimukseen valitun ajanjaks…
Kehitysyhteistyön avulla ei pysäytetä maahanmuuttoa
Kehitysyhteistyötä oikeutetaan usein sillä, että sen avulla voidaan estää muuttoliikkeitä puuttumalla lähtömaiden perimmäisiin ongelmiin. Ajatuksena on, että ihmisten ei tarvitse muuttaa, kun heidän lähtömaansa vaurastuvat ja elinolot kohenevat. Tämän päättelyketjun paikkansapitävyyttä on kuitenkin syytä kyseenalaista. Muuttaminen maasta toiseen vaatii monenlaista pääomaa, minkä vuoksi kaikkein köyhimmät harvoin saavat tähän mahdollisuutta. Kehittyvien maiden väestön vaurastuessa ihmisille muodostuu uusia pääomavaroja, joiden mahdollistamana he lähtevät liikkeelle etsien yhä parempia mahdollisuuksia. Kehitysyhteistyön oikeuttaminen sillä, että se pysäyttäisi muuttoliikkeitä, on täten kyseen…
Minding the Gaps : The Role of Finnish Civil Society Organizations in the Labour Market Integration of Migrants
AbstractThe growing role of civil society organizations (CSOs) in welfare service provision is sometimes portrayed as a threat to welfare state universalism in Nordic societies. In Finland, CSOs co-produce integration services alongside comprehensive official integration programmes, compensating for gaps and shortcomings in those services. We identify three “gaps”, which are (1) limited availability of services in terms of time and target group, (2) lack of direct labour market contacts and (3) limited flexibility to serve individual needs. We assess how CSOs target these gaps with their service offerings through qualitative interviews with policy implementers, CSO workers and migrants. How…
The good, the bad and the advantageous : Migrants’ attitudes towards other migrants
There is a growing number of various ethnic groups in Finland. The attitudes and categorizations that host country nationals have and make regarding migrants is frequently researched. The attitudes that migrants have towards other migrants has, however, been much less researched. This paper provides an in-depth analysis that considers what factors are behind the attitudes that migrants form of other migrants and how these impact categorizations and hierarchies. The empirical research material of this study is based on 77 qualitative interviews with migrants living in Finland, carried out in 2018–2019. In the analysis, various theories of minority relations are applied. The research finds th…
Essential? COVID-19 and highly educated Africans in Finland’s segmented labour market
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to characterise the position of highly educated African migrants in the Finnish labour market and to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on that position.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on the biographical work stories of 17 highly educated African migrant workers in four occupation areas in Finland: healthcare, cleaning, restaurant and transport. The sample was partly purposively and partly theoretically determined. The authors used content driven thematic analysis technique, combined with by the biographical narrative concept of turning points.FindingsUsing the case of highly educated African migrants in the Finnish labour market, …