This paper explores the emergence of a new ‘migrant division of labour’ in London. In contrast to a vision of ‘professionalization’, it shows that London's labour market has been characterized by processes of occupational polarization and that a disproportionate number of London's low‐paid jobs are now filled by foreign‐born workers. Drawing on original survey data, the paper explores the pay and conditions of London's low‐paid migrant workers and develops a framework for understanding the emergence of a new migrant division of labour in London. In particular, the paper stresses the role of the British state in shaping this divide. The paper concludes that the emergence of such a divide in London necessitates a re‐conceptualization of the place of migrant workers in the ‘global city’ and of the processes shaping global city labour markets, and outlines what this new division of labour might mean for politics and policy in London.

This article examines the means by which low-paid migrant workers survive in a rapidly changing and increasingly unequal labour market. In a departure from the coping strategies literature, it is argued that the difficulties migrant workers face in the London labour market reduces their ability to 'strategize'. Instead, workers adopt a range of 'tactics' that enable them to 'get by', if only just, on a day-to-day basis. The article explores these tactics with reference to the connections between different workers' experiences of the workplace, home and community, and demonstrates the role of national, ethnic and gender relations in shaping migrant workers' experiences of the London labour market and of the city more widely. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2007.

This article is located in the maelstrom of debate about immigration and employment in the contemporary economy. The article presents original analysis of data from the Labour Force Survey and a workplace case-study in the cleaning sector to highlight growing employer dependence on a very diverse pool of foreign-born labour. The article explains such dependency by drawing on interview material collected from employers, employers' associations, community organizations and policymakers. In sum, we argue that London's Migrant Division of Labour (MDL) is a product of the semi-autonomous actions taken by employers, workers and government in the particular context of London. Understanding the MDL thus needs to encompass employer demand, migrants' 'dual frame of reference' and limited access to benefits, as well as employers' preference for foreign-born workers over 'native' labour supply.The state is also argued to play a critical role in this employment, determining the nature and terms of immigration, the accessibility and levels of benefits, and employment regulation. London's MDL is shown to intersect with, and in some cases overturn, existing patterns of labour market segmentation on the basis of human capital (class), ethnicity and gender.

The impact of migration on gender identities, norms and conventions has been predominantly understood from the perspective of female migrants. Far less attention has been paid to the potential that migration entails for the negotiation and reconstruction of male identities. Drawing on sixty-seven in-depth interviews with male migrants employed in low-paid work in London, this paper explores the reworking of male identities at different stages of 'the migration project', focusing particularly upon the reasons extended for migration and how these are shaped by gender ideologies in home countries and negotiation of life and work in London. The paper also draws attention to ways in which these re-negotiations are themselves cross-cut by ethnic, racial and class differences, so constructing a more nuanced picture of mobile men and male identities.

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