Irregular employment of foreigners in Hungary

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Irregular employment of foreigners in Hungary

• Judit Juhász

Panta Rhei Social Research Bt. Budapest Tel./fax
(36-1) 200-1942 E-mail juhasz_at_hungarnet.hu
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Debates related to migration

• In the last two decades the socio-economic and
  political importance of international migration
  (including illegal forms) increased, thus the
  importance of the research.
• Focal points of debates
• Evaluation of economic, social and political
  significance
• Legal/illegal forms
• Regulation
• Possibilities of measurement, use of quantitative
  (hard) and/or soft qualitative methods

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Employment of foreigners

• I. Methodological challenge
• (Definitions, measurement)
• II. Legal background, regular/irregular
• III. Foreigners in the Hungarian labour market
  (situation description and analysis)
• Key questions and some results

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I. Methodological challenge

• Need for measurement meeting rigorous scientific
  standards
• Nature and complexity of the topic and the
  illegality itself makes impossible exact
  measurement
• Debate
• Possibility (if any) and means of measurement
• Qualitative / quantitative approaches
• Need for methodological diversity
• Contradiction political, administrative
  requirements research possibilities

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Problems of definition, terminology

• Diversity of definitions different estimates
• Lack of elaborated methodology
• conceptual uncertainity

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• Illegal/irregular migrant worker
• Legal category
• Economic determination
• socio-demographic interpretation
• Same activity might be qualified/classified
  differently

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Basic Considerations

• Methodological diversity gives better chance to
  differentiated description of illegal migration,
  to understand the root causes and processes
• Infiltration of direct political intentions and
  prejudices to research hypothesis, methods and
  conclusions must be avoided

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Methods

• Collection, systematisation and analysis of
  existing information (research results,
  statistical and administrative data, of press and
  document analysis)
• Data sources
• I. Registers
• Illegal border crossings
• Other illegal acts connected to migration
  (crimes, criminal offences)
• Data on labour control
• II. Empirical research
• Observation
• In depth interviews, conversation with key
  informants
• Interviews with migrants, case studies
• Content analysis
• Document analysis, videos, photos
• Cartographic methods
• Standard questionnaires

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II. Legal rules

• Work permit
• EU citizens
• Occasional agricultural employment
• Labour control

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Work permit

• Request by the employer
• Labour requirement report
• Is there domestic (EU) labour force? (30 days)
• Obtaining other documents (proof of
  qualification, visa, residence permit,
  occupational medical certificate)
• Validity
• For given employer, occupation and place
• Maximum 1 year

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Workers from the EU

• Free movement of workers (only registration is
  needed)
• From EU 15
• United Kingdom
• Sweden
• Ireland
• Spain
• Portugal
• Finland
• New EU members
• Reciprocity

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Occasional labour

• Since August 2005. special simplified rules (only
  for agricultural seasonal work, for a maximum of
  60 days/year)
• But
• seasonal visa is required (maximum for 72
  days/year, 30 EUR)
• Travel (visa at home, occasional labour booklet
  in Hungary)
• Still too complicated!!!
• Farmers recommendation all administration
  locally

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Labour control

• Fine for employergt8 minimal wage
• Jan-Apr 2006. 11 139 irregular worker,
  of which foreigners 388 without work permit
  1 164 other irregularity
• Labour control
• Targeted control
• Sectors (for example construction, agriculture)
• Thematic (for example without registration/permit
  )
• Notification/denunciation (neighbours,
  competitors)

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II. Foreigners in the Hungarian labour
marketSituation description and analysis

• Questions
• How many, who (where from, personal
  characteristics)
• Work (activity, qualification, recruitment,
  working conditions, wages, employers)
• Why? Advantages/disadvantages
• of employing foreigners
• of working abroad (in Hungary)
• From the perspectives of other actors

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Types of foreigners working in Hungary

• By occupational qualification
• Blue/white collar worker (unqualified/qualified)
• Professionals/intellectuals
• By length of employment
• Permanent employee occasional, seasonal worker
• By legal status
• Regular irregular
• By sending countries, nationalities
• By personal, demographic characteristics

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Foreigners in the Hungarian labour
marketSignificance and effects

• Do they take away jobs from Hungarians?
• Effect on wages
• Filling in labour shortages (certain jobs,
  qualifications)

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Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages and disadvantages

• Motivation
• Wages
• Culture
• Mobility

• Possible conflicts (locals foreigners)
• Difficulties in communication
• Lack of local knowledge
• Uncertainty on the long run

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I. Data from registers
Immigration (1990-2005)
Source Office for Immigration and Nationality
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Applications for permanent residence permits by
citizenship, 19962005
Source Office for Immigration and Nationality
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Economically active foreigners
Source HCSO, National Employment Office, Office
for Immigration and Nationality
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Labour migration (permit holders)
Source National Employment Office
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Employment by sectors
Source HCSO, National Employment Office
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Employment by sectors 2002,2005
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Illegal border crossings by directions 1990-2004
Source Border Guards
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II. Some results of empirical researches and
lessons learnt
Standard interviewsIrregular labour (ILO,
1998-99)

• In-depth interviews
• MIGIWE (2006)
• experts (35)
• migrants (35)

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Reasons of migration
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1. Income compared to Hungarians
--- MALE ---
--- FEMALE ---
ALTOGETHER
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2. Do you think there is any discrimination
against foreigners
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3. Does your present work match your
qualification? (answers according to highest
degree of education)
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Plans
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Visual documents
Labour control
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Accommodation of Romanian irregular workers at
the edge of Budapest
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The accommodation inside
They are rather grateful for it
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• International cooperation should be strenghtened
  to
• exploit the gained experiences and the advantages
  of common thinking
• develop the theory and praxis of migration
  research
• establish international standards