Highly skilled migration in the urban Arctic: a Norwegian case study on skilled migrant labour market integration

Abstract

Arctic Norway is a region with a shortage of highly skilled professionals and international expertise, in many work sectors. Fast growing cites attract people from other regions and also high skilled migrants. It is a paradox that skilled migrants often fail to get qualified work in the local labour market. To understand this and to capture the complexity of labour market participation, this article draws on interviews with recruitment agencies and highly skilled migrants, attending a recruitment programme initiated by the ‘Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry in Norway’. This paper draws on recent literature on highly skilled migration and analyses the complex and relational sides of labour market integration for skilled migrants in an urban Arctic town.

High-skilled female immigrants: career strategies and experiences

“…Accordingly, adults are often motivated to learn due to a problem, issue, or challenge they face personally or professionally. One salient problem that motivates high-skilled female immigrants -based on findings from this study and previous literature -is the status collapse they experience in their careers upon migrating to a new land (Chiswick et al, 2005;Fossland, 2012;Liversage, 2009;Ramboarison-Lalao et al, 2012). Our results show that those immigrants who perceive a status collapse to be problematic to their self-concept proactively set the learning cycle in motion.…”

“…To recap, our study revealed that most females had a non-linear entry in the job market, first going through a period of occupational status collapse, which gave them the initial motivation to activate the learning cycle. While previous studies on the career development of skilled migrants similarly reported on the status drop immediately after migration, talent waste, and downward career mobility (Chiswick et al, 2005;Fossland, 2012;Ressia et al, 2017;Liversage, 2009), we theoretically construed this status collapse as the primary push that drives skilled immigrants, triggering the experiential learning cycle. Perceptions of status collapse that trigger the learning cycle is especially salient and problematic among career-oriented immigrants whose core self-identities are strongly tied to their careers.…”

7. Temporary Employment Agencies’ Role in Work Inclusion of Immigrants and Refugees: Opportunities or a Permanent Precariat?

“…Brain waste, meaning that the migrant's education is not approved, and they end up in the secondary labour market, despite being qualified for jobs in the primary market is also a topic of concern (Fossland (2012(Fossland ( , 2013. In Fossland's study interviewing representatives of temporary employment agencies', they reported that employers do not appreciate and value the skills and education of their migrant employees (2012).…”

“…In order to meet their clients' expectations (employers) the temporary agencies play a major role in mediating the 'right type of workers'. This is a process in which they contribute in shaping the human capital of the migrants by changing their behaviour in direction of a normative expectation of 'the good worker' (Findlay, McCollum, Shubin, Apsite, & Krisjane, 2013, Fossland, 2012. Therefore, the agencies' role goes beyond mediating.…”

“…For the immigrants that are better off, the use of agencies will probably be promoting in that they are able to be evaluated as employable and as such can make the transition to the primary market, from Step 1 to Step 2. They are able to overcome illegitimate barriers in the labour market (Fossland, 2012). For those the agencies represent a stepping stone.…”