Abstract
We examine the drivers and impacts of Indian
immigration to the EU in two countries and
sectors: the IT sector in The Netherlands, and the
agricultural sector in Italy (in particular the dairy
industry in the north of Italy). In The Netherlands,
immigration policy has been reoriented to attract
high-skilled migrants, particularly in the IT sector,
and this has resulted in a substantial increase in
Indian migration in this sector. This has enabled
employers to fill labour shortages in a dynamic
and expanding sector. The flexibility of the
system, both with respect to entry requirements
and to the roles filled by migrants and their
dependents, has both increased migration flows
and also facilitated the broader expansion of the
sector; cost considerations and wage levels do
not appear to have been a major driver.
In Italy, by contrast, the increase in the number of
Indian migrants working in the agricultural sector
was not driven by policy, except inadvertently.
Despite the relatively poor performance of
the Italian labour market, agricultural work
has become steadily less attractive to young
Italians; Indians, generally arriving by irregular
means but subsequently the beneficiaries of
regularisation programmes, filled these gaps,
and network effects meant that their numbers
expanded over time. Again, flexibility, this time
on the part of the workers themselves, was
key, first to their attractiveness to employer
and then to their ability to adapt to the Italian
labour market. Despite the secular decline of the
agricultural sector, there is some evidence both
qualitative and quantitative, that in our region
of focus Indian migrants have helped stem the
decline by boosting productivity and output.
Again, we found little evidence of undercutting
or downward pressure on wages
immigration to the EU in two countries and
sectors: the IT sector in The Netherlands, and the
agricultural sector in Italy (in particular the dairy
industry in the north of Italy). In The Netherlands,
immigration policy has been reoriented to attract
high-skilled migrants, particularly in the IT sector,
and this has resulted in a substantial increase in
Indian migration in this sector. This has enabled
employers to fill labour shortages in a dynamic
and expanding sector. The flexibility of the
system, both with respect to entry requirements
and to the roles filled by migrants and their
dependents, has both increased migration flows
and also facilitated the broader expansion of the
sector; cost considerations and wage levels do
not appear to have been a major driver.
In Italy, by contrast, the increase in the number of
Indian migrants working in the agricultural sector
was not driven by policy, except inadvertently.
Despite the relatively poor performance of
the Italian labour market, agricultural work
has become steadily less attractive to young
Italians; Indians, generally arriving by irregular
means but subsequently the beneficiaries of
regularisation programmes, filled these gaps,
and network effects meant that their numbers
expanded over time. Again, flexibility, this time
on the part of the workers themselves, was
key, first to their attractiveness to employer
and then to their ability to adapt to the Italian
labour market. Despite the secular decline of the
agricultural sector, there is some evidence both
qualitative and quantitative, that in our region
of focus Indian migrants have helped stem the
decline by boosting productivity and output.
Again, we found little evidence of undercutting
or downward pressure on wages
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 25 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-92-2-032029-7 |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2020 |