Europe's Immigration Challenge: Reconciling Work, Welfare and Mobility

As the financial crisis continues to cast its long shadow over Europe, the view that immigrants compete unfairly for jobs and present an unsustainable burden on the European Social Model appears to be gathering support in some circles. But at the same time, the 'right' type of immigrant has often been perceived as a potential cure for Europe's sluggish labour markets and ailing welfare systems - especially immigrants who are young, easily employable and who arrive without family. So far, efforts to solve this conundrum - as in the UK's points-based system - have focused on increasing the selectivity of the admissions process. In this book, leading immigration experts question the effectiveness of this approach. Besides efforts to regulate the flow and rights of immigrants, they argue that governments across Europe need to devise labour market, welfare and immigration policies in a more integrated fashion.

Introduction Immigration, Work and Welfare: Towards an Integrated Approach | Elena Jurado, Grete Brochmann and Jon Erik Dølvik Chapter 1 Migration and the Political Economy of the Welfare State: Thirty Years Later | Gary P. Freeman Chapter 2 European Movements of Labour: Challenges for European Social Models | Jon Erik Dølvik Chapter 3 Migration and Welfare Sustainability: The Case of Norway | Grete Brochmann and Anne Skevik Grødem Chapter 4 Immigration in Italy: Subverting the Logic of Welfare Reform? | Giuseppe Sciortino Chapter 5 Responding to Employers: Skills, Shortages and Sensible Immigration Policy | Martin Ruhs and Bridget Anderson Chapter 6 European Employers and the Rediscovery of Labour Migration | Georg Menz Chapter 7 Long-Term Care and Migrant Labour in the UK | Isabel Shutes Chapter 8 Irregular Immigration and the Underground Economy in Southern Europe: Breaking the Vicious Circle | Emilio Reyneri Chapter 9 Restricting the Right to Family Migration in Denmark: When Human Rights Collide with a Welfare State under Pressure | Emily Cochran Bech and Per Mouritsen Chapter 10 Migration, Immigration Controls and the Fashioning of Precarious Workers | Bridget Anderson