Migrants and Minorities in the Labour Force

Abstract

Of the world’s estimated 120 million recent migrants, perhaps a quarter are legally admitted workers, another quarter illegally resident aliens, one-quarter spouses and children and the remainder refugees and asylum-seekers (Falchi, 1995: 5; Widgren, 1987: 4). In Western Europe, foreign labour employment generally stagnated or declined between 1975 and 1985, but then the overall pattern became one of increase until 1992. In Germany, 400 000 new foreign workers entered in 1992, including many seasonal and contract workers recruited for temporary employment from Poland and other former Warsaw Bloc countries. This was double the number of new foreign workers recorded in 1991 and triple the number who entered in 1990 (OECD, 1994: 21).