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Global cities and international migration: issues facing London Professor Cathy McIlwaine

Global cities and international migration: issues facing London Professor Cathy McIlwaine School of Geography. Migrant labour. International migration Migrant city: London ’ s ‘ superdiversity ’ Exploding some myths (challenging Tabloid headlines) Understanding migrant labour

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Global cities and international migration: issues facing London Professor Cathy McIlwaine

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  1. Global cities and international migration: issues facing London Professor Cathy McIlwaine School of Geography

  2. Migrant labour • International migration • Migrant city: London’s ‘superdiversity’ • Exploding some myths (challenging Tabloid headlines) • Understanding migrant labour • Who are London’s migrants? • Understanding migrant experiences • Conclusion

  3. INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION TO THE UNITED KINGDOM • UK became country of net immigration in 1980s • Rate of immigration began to rise markedly in mid-1990s Total International Migration (TIM) to/from the UK 1997-2006 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/images/charts/260.gif

  4. WHY INCREASE IN INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION TO UK? • Global migration market for highly skilled migrants developed • Rise in no. of work permits issued in 1990s • Increase in no. of asylum applications • Increase in foreign students at British universities • Increase in family reunification • Expansion of EU • Increase in irregular migration

  5. INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION TO UK CONCENTRATED IN LONDON • London receives 40% of gross inflows to UK UK destination of immigrants 1999-2006 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget_print.asp?ID=260

  6. Why is London a global city? • Trend not new: 1970s and 1980s, London • absorbed one-third of foreign-born migrants to UK • Until late-1990s, London accounted for vast majority of additions to UK’s migrant stock • London now has 2.23 million foreign-born migrants (30.5%) (compared with 1.17 million in 1986 - 17.6%)

  7. WHY LONDON? • Buoyant economy = jobs • Close to port of entry (or actual) • Existing concentrations of immigrant groups • Education system • English language • Tolerance • Tomas, 42, from Antioquia, Colombia: ‘Here in London money is really strong compared with the peso, and you work like a madman here’

  8. WHO ARE MIGRANTS TO LONDON? Origin of immigrants to London, 1998-2005 • Specific countries responsible for largest inflows: Australia, India, South Africa, Poland, the US and Brazil

  9. INCREASING COSMOPOLITANISM OF LONDON, 1986-2006

  10. ‘SUPER-DIVERSITY’ OF LONDON • Refers to diversity surpassing that experienced before (Vertovec, 2007) • Sometimes referred to as ‘new migration’ • There are people in London from 179 countries • 300 languages spoken

  11. BEYOND NATIONALITY, WHO ARE MIGRANTS TO LONDON? • Young age group • Half of adults were single • Half white ethnic and 20% were non-Christian • Well-educated

  12. HOW DO MIGRANTS CONTRIBUTE TO THE LONDON ECONOMY? • 45% of UK’s migrant workers live in London (TUC, 2007) • Migrants contribute labour at top and bottom ends of London labour market (highly paid skilled and low paid manual jobs) Migrant share of employment, 2005/6

  13. Myth I: they steal our jobs…

  14. EXPLODING THE MYTHS I: MIGRANTS DO NOT STEAL LONDONERS’ JOBS • Successive studies at macro-level of London economy highlight no overall effect on native employment or on unemployment • At bottom end of labour market, migrants do jobs that native born will not do • “A lot of the British whites don’t want to clean toilets” (manager, Canary Wharf, 28.9.06) • Many employers now target migrants rather than long-term unemployed natives • “The English are used to a social security system anyway, they’re used to having that whereas the immigrants don’t have that in their country” (manager, Canary Wharf, 4.12.06)

  15. MYTH II: Migrants have negative effect on economy

  16. EXPLODING THE MYTHS II: MIGRANTS CONTRIBUTE TO ECONOMIC GROWTH • Since 1998, immigration has raised GDP by 3.1% • Treasury sees inward migration = 10-15% of forecast economic growth • No evidence that migrants push down wages levels - due to minimum wage • But, some evidence that undocumented migration can have effect on wages

  17. Myth III: migrants are a drain on welfare

  18. EXPLODING THE MYTHS III:MIGRANTS ARE NOT A DRAIN ON WELFARE RESOURCES • Home Office study found migrants: • Paid £31.2 billion in taxes • Received £28.8 billion in public goods and services • = net contribution of £2.5 billion (1999- 2000) • Other studies find migrants consistently make higher net annual fiscal contribution than British born people • BUT, can be problems at grassroots. Central government under-estimate migrant population and don’t allocate enough resources to local councils

  19. WHAT IS IT LIKE FOR MIGRANTS THEMSELVES WORKING IN LONDON? • Study at Queen Mary on low-paid economy in London • Questionnaire survey = 424 migrant workers • In-depth interviews = 103 migrant workers working in: Care Hotels and catering Cleaning (office and the Underground) Food manufacturing Construction • Survey with 105 cleaners with single employer in Canary Wharf

  20. SUPER-DIVERSITY AMONG LOW PAIDMIGRANT WORKERS • 89% of those surveyed were born overseas representing 60 countries of origin 53% from Africa (Nigeria, Ghana) 18% from Latin America/ Caribbean (Colombia, Brazil, Jamaica) 13% Europe 9% from Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Poland, Lithuania) 5% from Asia and South East Asia (Sri Lanka, Mauritius)

  21. LONDON MIGRANTS COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN

  22. PROFILE OF LOW-PAID MIGRANT WORKERS • Well-educated: • 47% had college or university level qualifications • Economically active age groups, majority single: Over 2/3 (68%) aged 30 or over 37% lived with partner • Recent arrivals One-half arrived in the UK in or after 2001

  23. EXPERIENCES OF LOW-PAID WORK AMONG MIGRANTS • Low rates of pay • Most earned the minimum wage (£5.50), few earned the London Living Wage (£7.45) (rates now higher) • Average annual salary: • £10,200 a year before tax and National Insurance • Majority worked for large companies/ agencies ‘on the books’ • Between 83% and 93% had written work contracts, paid tax and NI contributions, and received pay slips from employers • Very few (17%) claimed any kind of state benefits

  24. MIGRANT WORKERS ENDURE VERY POOR WORKING CONDITIONS AND HAVE FEW WORK-RELATED BENEFITS • 44% never had a pay rise • 59% lost pay for taking time off for emergencies • 61% did not receive sick pay • 65% worked un-social hours (early, late or night shifts) • Many talked of how demanding their work was (physically/emotionally)

  25. Kwame from Ghana found unhealthy working conditions on the Underground particularly difficult: ‘Very hard, train work is very hard, litter picking trains, because we’ve got a lot of rubbish inside that I open before coming here and afterwards we have to take all that rubbish outside to the bin room. Because you know carbon dioxide, sometimes if you use like cotton, white cotton, cleaning your nose you see there is a black carbon deposit because of the electricity down here and the train will be using it… put your hand on the wall or you use some glove to clean it, before you know it it’s black. It’s no good for our health’.

  26. Zofia, a chambermaid from Poland who worked in a large hotel, complained about the number of rooms she had to clean, and described the degrading practices associated with hotel work: ‘I was too exhausted. In the first month I had bleeding from my nose I was so tired and weakened. Every day that I had to go there I wanted to cry. They gave this list of rooms that one has to clean. Every morning we have to go to the office and to stand in the queue to get this list of rooms and the uniform. It does make one feel like a ‘Cinderella’”

  27. LINKING GLOBAL NORTH AND SOUTH • 73% of respondents sent money home 81% Sub-Saharan Africans 72% Eastern Europeans 69% Latin Americans 68% Asian/South East Asians • On average, migrants remitted between 20 and 30% of their income • For some this was much higher: • Eduardo, a Brazilian construction worker, sent 65% of his earnings to his two young daughters and ex-wife back home

  28. But pressures of living transnational lives as • Adanya from Nigeria explains: • “Sometime I just feel like quitting the job. When I think about it, I pay my rent, 300 pounds, I’ll be left with 300 pounds, because my pay cheque is 600 pounds. After my rent I’ll be left with 300 pounds to pay my travel card, go shopping and that, so how much I have left to save? And I’ve got a baby back home, a three year old in Nigeria. So I have to send money back home to my mum. I’m just trying I’m just doing my best”

  29. Migrants enhance cultural diversity in London

  30. CONCLUSIONSMIGRATION IS GOOD FOR LONDON • Contrary to reports in media such as ) a and reports by groups such as Migration Watch, migration is good for London • Migration has stopped long-term population decline • Migration has bolstered London economy at both ends (highly skilled and low paid manual) • Migrants do jobs that no-one else will do • Migrants contribute to cultural diversity • Globally, migration contributes to economies of developing nations

  31. For more information about Geography at Queen Mary see: http://www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/ For more specific information about Global Cities at work see: http://www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/ For more specific information about Latin Americans in London see: http://www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/latinamericansinlondon/

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