Guestworkers in Europe: A Resurrection?
Abstract
Around 1974, most Western European countries abandoned migrant labor recruitment, and introduced restrictive entry rules. Today, policymakers are reexamining temporary migrant worker programs. This article examines demographic, economic, and social pressures for labor recruitment, discusses temporary migrant worker programs in Germany and the United Kingdom, and examines the European Commission's 2005 Policy Plan for Legal Migration. Current approaches differ significantly from the past and there is no question of a general return to labor recruitment policies. However, today's policies do share some common features with past guestworker programs, and may lead to negative social outcomes in both receiving and sending countries.
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Historically, migrants have been constructed as individual units of labour by Global North receiving states, and their family and care needs were accorded little or no recognition.
“Historically, migrants have been constructed as individual units of labour by Global North receiving states, and their family and care needs were accorded little or no recognition.”
From Conditioning grandparent care-labour mobility at the care-migration systems nexus: Australia and the UK (2024) · cites this paper as Castles 2006
Temporary recruitment schemes for low-skilled labour in parts of Europe and North America in the middle of the twentieth century represent archetypal examples of constructing migrants as individual units of labour.
“The temporary recruitment schemes for low-skilled labour in parts of Europe and North America in the middle of the twentieth century represent archetypal examples of this (Castles 2006; Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila 1997).”
From Conditioning grandparent care-labour mobility at the care-migration systems nexus: Australia and the UK (2024) · cites this paper as Castles 2006
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Pichler, F. (2010) · International Journal of Comparative Sociology · doi:10.1177/0020715210379456 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Kilkey, M., & Baldassar, L. (2024) · Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies · doi:10.1080/1369183x.2023.2279732 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
“The temporary recruitment schemes for low-skilled labour in parts of Europe and North America in the middle of the twentieth century represent archetypal examples of this (Castles 2006; Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila 1997).”
Background
- Authors
- Castles, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Castles, Stephen
- Venue
- International Migration Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2006-12
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 741-766
- ISSN
- 0197-9183 (ISSN-L)
- 1747-7379
- OpenAlex
- W2113517984
- Cited by
- 537
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 40 · 2014: 33 · 2013: 55 · 2012: 24
- FWCI
- 42.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Migration Review (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration and Labor Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration, Refugees, and Integration
- Social Sciences › Law › European Law and Migration
- Keywords
- guest workers, labor recruitment, Germany, United Kingdom, sending and receiving countries
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