The international recruitment chain: Experiences and policy recommendations

The author analyses the problematic aspects of the pathways used to recruit mobile migrant labour. He reflects on characteristics of intra-EU mobility and of third-country nationals’ recruitment and discusses similarities and differences between the two types of recruitment. Drawing on research evidence from several EU countries, the focus is on issues such as recruitment costs and depth bondage addressing the question of how free the choice to migrate is. Transnational recruitment of labour emerges as demand-driven as user undertakings’ demand plays a key role in the development of the flow that is externalised to a booming industry of transnational operating temporary work agencies. The multiple range of evidence presented indicates that the recruitment process influences the sorting, and thereby segmentation into vulnerable positions, of migrant workers. Moreover, certain recruitment channels are frequently associated with high workers’ dependency and risk of serious abuse. The article draws policy recommendations for the re-regulation of migrant labour recruitment, by making the key actors on the labour demand side, that is, the user undertakings in destination countries, accountable.