Policy Brief No. 3 March 2008

Transcription

1 Integration of Female Immigrants in Labour Market and Society. Policy Assessment and Policy Recommendations Policy Brief No. 3 March 2008 Labour markets for female migrants: an overview in selected EU countries Edited by Nicos Trimikliniotis University of Nicosia (Intercollege) and Maja Cederberg Oxford Brooks University A Specific Targeted Research Project of the 6 th Framework Programme of the European Commission

2 Introduction The FeMiPol project (Integration of female migrants in labour market and society. Policy assessment and policy recommendations) is funded by the EU s 6th Framework Programme. It explores and analyses the impact of different policies on the position and experience of new female migrants in EU countries, with the aim of developing recommendations for appropriate policies. The project spans eleven European countries: Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK. This policy brief will give an overview of what labour markets in different countries look like with regards to female migrants. Aside from highlighting the different areas and aspects relevant for studying the experience of female migrants specifically, this will also serve to link those experiences to broader political and social changes in European countries, with regards to labour markets and welfare regimes. Considering the broader structural context is necessary if we are to understand the position of particular groups, and be able to make policy recommendations in relation to this. Particular issues explored in this policy brief with regards to general structures and trends include levels of privatisation and their effect on the flexibilisation and casualisation of labour in the different countries; the nature and extent of the public sector; levels of regulation of employers and employment contracts; the role of trade unions and levels of unionisation of workers; employment and social security of workers; and finally, structures of and changes in welfare regimes, which has implications on the position and security of workers and female migrant workers. In turn, we consider how female migrants specifically are located in this broader context, and consider issues concerning migrant labour generally, and female migrant labour specifically: what are the relevant sectors and occupations, and what the surrounding policies and debates? By considering the national cases in relation to one another, we hope to try and identify some differences and similarities that will enable us to further understand some of the consequences of different European labour market and welfare policies on the position and experience of female migrants. Germany In the framework of downsizing the welfare state during the last decade, German governments started the largest social policy reform in the history of the Federal Republic. Known as the Hartz Reform, it entailed a series of laws concerned to flexibilise the labour market, reduce non-wage labour costs as well as costs for unemployment, and improve control over the informal sectors of the economy. An important means to achieve this has been to liberalise the legal framework concerning fixed-term contracts, agency work, dismissal protection, minor employment, i.e. low salaried work without social insurance benefits, and collective labour agreements. The low wage sector of the labour market as well as opportunities of the unemployed to re-enter the labour market have been greatly influenced by this reform. The expansion in minor employment has had a significant impact on women, who are often employed on part-time contracts, although also men are becoming increasingly employed under such conditions. A central debate concerning female employment more generally revolves around the issue of the low employment rates of women in relation to other European countries and the need for increasing this by enabling a better reconciliation of family and paid work, in turn by broadening the infrastructure for care of young children. The main sectors open to female migrants entering the country are the domestic, hotel and restaurant sectors, agricultural work, and the sex industry. A lot of this work is informal, which 2

3 means that there are only estimates concerning the presence of female migrants in prostitution (200,000, i.e. half of the total number of sex workers) and in live-in domestic employment to care for the elderly (estimated at ,000). Employment in ethnic businesses, and particularly restaurants, also seems quantitatively important, including both the regular and irregular sectors. Female migrants work in the public sector has been affected by downsizing and privatization of services such as cleaning or catering. In this sector, minor employment is widespread. There are new female migrants also in the other sectors of economy, but only in very small numbers. The group of IT specialists who enter Germany with a Green Card (since 2000) consisted of 88% of males and 12% of females. Current policy is greatly concerned with regulating informal labour, notably through the Law for combating illicit work, and tax fraud related to illicit work, that came into force on August 1st, 2004, and turned undeclared work into a criminal offence. This law gets implemented mostly in sectors dominated by male migrants, such as construction, but also in certain sectors in which female migrants work, like prostitution. The domestic sector, however, is less regulated and controlled. With a shrinking industrial sector, the power of the trade unions is in decline. In terms of their policies, trade unions adopt a restrictive policy towards irregular work. Concerning new female migrants, they have made efforts to organize women working in prostitution since this sector was de-criminalised through the new Prostitution Law (2004). There is, however, no visible effort to organize either regular or irregular domestic workers, who often work in isolation. There is also no self-organization amongst this group, by contrast to many other European countries. In relation to female migrants in the domestic sector, the debates are concerned rather with the issue of the need to secure the care of children and the elderly, in order to enable German women to enter the labour market, as noted earlier in relation to the limited care infrastructure. There are suggestions for developing Service agencies that would organize the offer of domestic services at a reasonable price level. Other issues that are discussed particularly by NGOs and local policy makers include the issue of human rights, the health protection of the undocumented and the schooling of their children, and the reproductive health of migrant women; the issue of de-skilling of female migrants, and the appropriate strategies for enabling them to gain employment in line with their qualifications; trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and in relation to this, we see a tendency to relate prostitution in general to trafficking practices. Concerning the established migrant populations, the situation of female migrants in the labour market is discussed in relation to high levels of unemployment, and the need for improving labour market access, but also with regards to the education of the second generation, and the option of creating more apprenticeship places, particularly in ethnic businesses. Policies for the integration of female migrants in the labour market are related to the EU financed projects. The UK When the Labour Party came to power in 1997, the Third Way ideology was proclaimed as the new direction of the (New) Labour Party, aiming to combine economic growth (through free market policies) with social rights, or, in the words of the National Action Plan on employment, to promote enterprise and fairness together. Two central elements of the implementation of this ideology relate firstly to the emphasis put on a flexible labour market, and secondly to reforming the welfare system by redirecting the emphasis from a passive benefits system to welfare through work. An underlying assumption of this policy agenda is that a growing economy will benefit all of society s members through the corresponding growth of the welfare pot, and there is a key focus put on further improving the competitive power of the UK economy and businesses in the face of 3

4 expanding global markets. Measures to improve the UK s business climate include improved access to finance, tax reforms and regulatory and legal reforms, aimed to simplify existing frameworks and minimising administrative burdens. More specifically, female-led enterprise (as well as that of other disadvantaged groups) is identified as an area in need of expansion and enablement, and the government has for some time been promoting self-employment amongst minority ethnic groups. As well as improving the business climate, another major goal for this government is full employment. Measures include active labour market policies, the introduction of further incentives to seek work, and policies that function as further enablements to work, such as education, training, but also childcare facilities. The idea of making work pay is a crucial component of the government s strategy towards full employment, to ensure that people will be better off financially by working rather than living on benefits. The two central policies in place to ensure this are the Working Tax Credit and the National Minimum Wage. The Working Tax Credit was initiated in 2003 and provides additional financial support for low income households, i.e. complementing incomes. The National Minimum Wage Act of 1998 was introduced to ensure that exploitation in the workplace would not take place. When first introduced in April 1999, the adult (over 21) basic rate was put at 3.60 gross. It generally increases in October every year, and in 2006 was set at The focus on full employment is furthermore a central element to policies surrounding both social inclusion and integration. With regards to unemployment policies there are two notable overall trends: firstly, the establishment of a system of means-testing in relation to payments and measures for the poor and unemployed. The idea here is to identify the specific need, and to target groups in need of help and support. Secondly, we see a broad aim to get people into work, ultimately to reduce the costs to the state. In relation to benefits, this implies principles of conditionality and compulsion. A good example is the so-called jobseekers allowance, a new version of income support, to which active labour market measures are attached. This entails receiving support on the condition that you comply with the measures set out for you, including attending meetings, seeking work, and going to job interviews. However, the government has carefully worded this strategy as not one of compulsion but of empowering people to work, thereby helping them out of unemployment and welfare dependency. The ultimate aim of policies in this area is to break the so-called dependency culture. The emphasis on flexibility has implied a casualisation of the job market, and a general proliferation of employee statuses in different sectors. A major issue relates to the legal framework regulating the different types of jobs. Regarding employment rights, there is a significant distinction between employee and worker in UK law, through which the former enjoys more extensive rights. However, rights to the broader category of workers have been extended in the last few years, and amongst other things they include the National Minimum Wage and anti-discrimination legislation. Furthermore, there has been an expansion of rights for employees on part-time and fixed-term contracts, to ensure that they have the same rights as permanent full-time employees. The expansion of rights for part-time workers took place through the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations of 2000 and 2001 (ensuring the same hourly rate of pay, access to pension schemes, access to training, and rights to parental leave and sick pay on the same conditions as full-time workers), while fixed-term contracts are regulated through the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations, which came into force in The latter includes the right not to be unfairly dismissed (after one year) and the right to statutory redundancy payments (after two years). The inclusion of a time condition in relation to these rights highlights a generally important distinction in relation to employment rights, namely the number of statutory rights that are achieved through continuity of employment. Debates have continued to take place in relation to the extent of employment rights, and the government has proven reluctant to extend the rights of atypical workers too far. 4

5 In relation to vulnerable workers, an important policy introduced is the Gangmasters Licensing Act of 2004 (commencing in 2006), concerned to protect workers from exploitation. This Act made it illegal to supply businesses in agriculture and food processing without a licence from the Licensing Authority. However, the Trade Union Council (TUC) has raised concerns about the risks of labour suppliers concerned to get around legislation moving into currently uncovered sectors, such as hospitality and cleaning. It has urged the government to introduce a more comprehensive legislation that forces agencies operating in all sectors of the labour market to comply with the licensing rules. Migrant workers are highlighted as a particularly vulnerable group not only because of the specific sectors in which they work, but also because they are less likely to be aware of their rights and ways to reinforce them. A low level of unionisation of this group is found to be a significant problem. More generally, the issue of labour agencies and the disadvantage faced by agency workers is high on the TUC s agenda, and in March this year, it put forward an agency workers bill concerned to give agency workers the right to be treated equally to permanent employees. The bill was partly a response to the short-comings of the government s consultation on agency workers, found to be very limited. In relation to this, the TUC has undertaken a survey of agency workers in the UK, and found that abuse and exploitation is commonplace. While emphasising the existence of good and compliant labour agencies, serious concerns are raised about the high numbers of people in vulnerable positions due to an inadequate regulative system. However, it is also notable that even in some cases where workers are covered by law, lack of proper enforcement of those laws means that they are at times not enjoying their rights. For example, this has been found to be the case in relation to the National Minimum Wage, and in their submission to the Low Pay Commission last year, the TUC stressed the need for increased resources to be given to the agencies responsible for enforcing the Minimum Wage legislation. Sweden During the last decade(s), we have seen a gradual move away from the renowned Swedish model, with significant changes in both welfare and labour market policies. Central to that model has been a universalist welfare state, along with the tripartite system of policy making, and a significant power of the trade unions and the role of collective wage bargaining. High levels of employment on which the model was premised have been achieved partly through an active labour market policy and the working line, ensuring that retraining and skills levels followed labour market needs. In terms of general ideological and policy shifts in the last two decades, a more neo-liberal direction had been adopted by the Swedish government by the late 80s, improving the position of the market while beginning to dismantle the welfare state. That shift in turn went hand in hand with a changing political-economic context in Sweden, part of wider global trends, and particularly their expression in the European context. In terms of the effects of these general trends on migrants specifically, we see that the growing casual sector (with limited employment, social and economic security) disproportionately employs immigrants and persons with immigrant background, and there is furthermore a strong gendered element to this. Although political-economic shifts began before Sweden joined the EU in 1995, trends have arguably exacerbated since then, through harmonization of social and labour market policy aimed at facilitating the success of the common market. The question of how far to comply with European harmonisation continues to be one of great contention, and a particular issue concerns the retention of the universal model of workers rights and conditions viz a viz the relaxation of rules with regards to foreign companies and workers. A case that brought this debate to the fore is the so-called Vaxholm-case, where the Swedish trade union for construction workers fought against a Latvian company that imported Eastern European workers to work for wages below the Swedish collective agreement for this labour market sector. After a long dispute in both Swedish and European courts, the union finally won the case: however not without fierce criticisms from a 5

6 number of different angles. Furthermore, this issue is set to continue to re-surface during the next years. While these trends have taken place gradually, and under right-wing as well as Social Democratic governments, we can detect an acceleration since the right-centre coalition took over in September last year. For this government, a strong focus has been put on employment and unemployment, and a number of policies and proposals for policies have been introduced in this area: in relation both to the creation of jobs, and increasing incentives to seek work. What follows is just a selection of the numerous policies currently debated or implemented. In terms of creating jobs, the government has introduced a number of measures for improving the business climate in Sweden. One highly controversial move was to abolish tax on wealth. A more general policy has been to privatise and introduce competition into more sectors of the labour market, arguably opening up business opportunities. In relation to women particularly, the government has suggested that increasing competition in the health and care sectors will create possibilities for more women to start businesses in this area. Another notable move concerns the policy on tax deduction for domestic services, which is expected to create a great number of jobs (notably in a low status low wage sector with a strong gendered but also ethnic dimension). Another way in which this government proposes to create more jobs is through increasing possibilities for temporary employment contracts. One particular point of contestation recently has concerned the Law on Employment Protection (LAS), which is regarded as a crucial aspect of employment rights in Sweden, and protects workers from being made redundant as and when this suits the employer. According to this law, employees are entitled to a non-tenured appointment after six months of working for an employer. The concern of the current government is that the law is keeping a great number of people outside the labour market, which, the argument goes, they would more easily access if the protection of employees were relaxed through the provision of more temporary and casual employment opportunities. Another controversial policy already introduced (1 st of January this year) is a transformation of the unemployment insurance in a manner through which it has become more costly for the individual worker as well as less beneficial. The membership fee has gone up substantially, which might mean that some workers decide not to pay, and hence lose this crucial form of security. In terms of the conditions of the unemployment insurance, demands have increased through removing the right to seek employment only in one s occupational and geographical area during the first 100 days, and making people accept a wider range of job offers and in a broader geographical scope. Furthermore, the rates of payment have declined significantly. This policy has been heavily criticised heavily by both the parties in opposition and the trade unions. The previous unemployment insurance was regarded as a crucial component of the Swedish model for the rights and protection of workers. The high rate of redress, on the one hand, enabled people to retain a certain standard of living and, on the other, meant that they were not forced to accept low paid jobs below their levels of qualification and competence. The concern now is that the new nature of the unemployment insurance will contribute to the creation of a low-wage sector. Transforming the unemployment insurance has also been put forward as a solution to high levels of unemployment experienced by young people, and the idea here is to create more jobs for this particular group amongst other things by lowering payroll tax contributions and hence social expenditures for young people (ages 18-24), and lowering the rate of unemployment insurance redress. Another proposal concerns being given a job guarantee after having been registered with the public employment agency, in relation to which the unemployment insurance is cut unless the job offer is accepted. These are all still on the level of proposals, and have been heavily criticised for being discriminatory against young people by limiting their rights as workers. If young people have been designated as a particular group in need of support and encouragement to get into the labour market, another such group is immigrants. Generally, work has been 6

7 emphasised as the primary means for the integration of new migrants and other groups currently suffering from social exclusion. On July 2 nd we saw the introduction of a form of introductory job designed to combine work with Swedish language education as well as a strong guidance element. These jobs will be subsidised by the state at the rate of 50% for the public and 75% for the private sector. Other policy proposals include strengthening possibilities for appraisal of foreign qualifications, stronger anti-discrimination legislation, and increasing funds for supporting migrants to become self-employed. An overarching debate taking place in relation to these developments concerns the concept and nature of the so-called working line, mentioned earlier as being a central component of the Swedish model. While the right-centre parties have been concerned to adopt this line in some form (even to the extent that the Moderate Party advertised themselves as the New Worker s Party before the last Election), critics emphasise a shift in nature of the working line : from encouragement and an active labour market policy towards punishment and forms of negative incentives for entering or re-entering the labour market. France Persistent high unemployment above the EU average has been a matter of concern for French officials since decades. Recently, labour market flexibility and making work pay have been put forward as remedies to high unemployment. French activation and welfareto-work policies, recognised as a middle way between the UK neo-liberal workfare regime and the Danish activation policies have since 2001 become prominent within the French system of unemployment compensation. The back-to-work assistance plan established personalised support measures for every unemployed person. The payment of a back-to-work allowance ( Allocation de Retour à l Emploi ) is conditioned on the job seekers agreement not to refuse any employment or training offered without a legitimate reason. Furthermore, the conditions under which one can qualify for this unemployment compensation have become increasingly demanding; the adoption or attempt to adopt new models of flexible labour contracts is in turn an example of the flexibilisation of the workforce. Making work pay was also among the central topics of the last presidential campaign, and will be implemented by the newly elected centre-right majority in Parliament. Measures such as tax exemption for overtime ( work more to earn more ) and measures restricting right to strike such as the minimum service work (for instance during public transportation strikes allowing transportation users to go to work), are presented as targeting this objective. It is unlikely that measures directed towards making work pay have favoured or will in the future favour the immigrant population, and more specifically female immigrants, as illustrated for instance by the back-to-work policy. The reduction of the duration of compensation coupled with an extension of the required minimum duration of affiliation to qualify for unemployment insurance since 2004 has more of an effect on groups in precarious situations. Foreign national job seekers are already less likely to be able to claim a compensation from the unemployment insurance system, and more likely to receive welfare (as they do not have enough working hours to qualify). Foreigners are in fact much more often under-employed than French nationals (in other words working part time while being willing to increase their working hours). It is probable that foreign women would have even more difficulty qualifying for the right to compensation: they display higher levels of under-employment than men. The rate of under-employment is particularly high for jobs like cleaning, house-work, or house-keeping (concierges), 7

8 where foreign women are over-represented. Foreign women are also over-represented in the segment of the population receiving the lowest wages. Working only a few hours a day (employment duration lower than the minimum required for affiliation, unstable and precarious forms of employment), they are largely denied access to unemployment benefits. Receiving low pay, their unemployment compensation will also be relatively low, provided they are able to obtain it at all. The Sarkozy s credo work more in order to earn more is even less likely to apply to immigrant women working in domestic service and care who tend to have several employers, working only a few hours a week for each. Even the Active Solidarity Income ( Revenu de Solidarité Active ) promoted by the High Commissioner for Active Solidarities, Martin Hirsch, an income allocated to some welfare recipients re-entering the labour market, is expected to push people to accept the most precarious jobs that have to be filled on the labour market. This measure, supposedly aimed at providing employment for low-skilled persons and at making work pay, could adversely affect immigrants who are over-represented among welfare recipients (Guaranteed Minimum Income Revenu Minimum d Insertion ). In the field of immigration policy, one of the most important aspects raised has to do with considering immigration in relation to the needs of the French economy, as proposed by different official reports. The new immigration Law of July 2006 distinguishes between endured immigration and chosen immigration, and intends to reduce the familybased migration and promote labour migration. The new immigration law adopted by the Assemblée nationale on 19 September and in a slightly modified form by the Senate on 4 October introduces further restrictions on family reunification: French language training and language and Republican values evaluation tests will be carried out in the countries of origin of immigrants family members before reuniting. The Law also foresees genetic tests in case of doubt of filiation (voluntary and free of charge if successful) and imposes an income threshold as a condition for reuniting families. The tightening of the family reunification has as ultimate goal to promote labour immigration in particular into highly skilled professions (scientists, engineers), as well as in some less skilled sectors characterised by labour shortage (construction, catering, personal services for instance). Accordingly a three-year skills and talents residence permit will for instance be granted to highly skilled immigrants while foreign students graduated in France who contribute to the development of both this receiving country and their country of origin will possibly be granted renewable documents to work. Women are already over-represented among unskilled workers, and immigrant women particularly occupy the less skilled jobs. They are mainly employed in the tertiary sector: personal and domestic services, education, health, social work and services to businesses. They are conversely underrepresented in skilled or highly skilled sectors, such as administration and financial activities. A smaller percentage of employed immigrant women are incorporated in the category executives and higher intellectual professions, as compared to non immigrant women. Therefore, policies aimed at promoting labour migration, and more specifically skilled labour migration, are likely to favour male immigration. The importation of labour has been criticised, as unemployment and under employment rates of immigrants already living in France are high, and even the General Inspector of administration, Richard Castera, concluded that there should be a focus on enabling the existent population to work. Furthermore, the promotion of skilled migration is criticised for being counter-productive, as skilled persons may be reluctant to migrate considering the tightening up of family reunification. In other words, labour and family immigration are closely interrelated. The chorus of criticism coming from NGOs, 8

9 political parties and trade-unions, reunited on the network «United against a disposable immigration», pointed out that promoting a chosen migration would in practice lead to an increase in illegal immigration. Furthermore, and more importantly from a gender perspective, the downward social mobility of many skilled/educated women immigrants that are obliged to occupy unskilled and precarious jobs and/or being stuck in typically female occupations in the labour market remains a blind spot in policy. These women, as well as those who are performing skilled activities but face the gender glass ceiling, excluding them from the highest levels in the management occupations, constitute a skilled but misused and mismanaged workforce reservoir. To sum up, within both general public policies such as back-to-work ones as well as within immigration policies, activation measures and contractualisation are increasingly being implemented. Voices, such as the above mentioned network, rise to denounce the instrumental use of immigrants: the utilisation of a reserve army of undocumented workers in secondary markets via subcontracting (construction, cleaning, etc.), when part of them could have been included in the official chosen immigration category. Slovenia Women in Slovenia have a significant history of participating in the labour market and the female activity rate has been high since the second half of the 1940s. Most women work full-time; they get one year of paid maternity leave, and it is common practice that they re-enter the labour market soon afterwards. If economic growth is to be sustained in Slovenia, it is likely that migrant labour will have an important role especially given the demographic and social changes taking place. The current economic trends mirrored in the official policies and the Employment Service of Slovenia s active employment guidelines reveal that it is primarily native workers and their access to the labour market that remain the main priority. Programmes for the implementation of active employment policy exist; however, female migrants do not yet play a part on the official agenda. For the time being, the long-term unemployed, particularly women, who are increasingly becoming the most vulnerable group of the unemployed, are the only specifically mentioned category in the governmental programmes. Registered unemployment rates have recently seen a decrease, but low-skilled workers remain at high risk of losing employment due to transitional restructuring. The feminisation of migration is not yet a trend in Slovenia, a country of immigration from the mid-1950s onward. About 30% of the foreign population in Slovenia are women, and 60% of them have permanent residence in Slovenia. The remaining 40% of female foreigners have temporary stay permits; hence their employment status is connected to various types of work permits. Some come as partners to male migrants and may not work. Generally, there is a lack of specific information on the occupations and types of employment for female migrants. There is a shortage of medical doctors and a steady presence of labour market demand for nurses, yet the existing data on job vacancies shows that male migrant labour, especially construction work, is more in demand than female migrant labour. However, such estimates do not account for informal sector of work. Most migrants come from Europe, and overwhelmingly from Yugoslavia s successor states. This is true for both men and women migrants. The proportions of female migrants are significantly high especially in the cases of the Dominican Republic, Philippines, Colombia, Thailand, Ukraine and the Russian Federation, where female migrants are overwhelmingly in the majority. The number of 9

10 migrants from third countries is generally low. Only 2.6 % of the foreign population are third country nationals, most of them coming from Asia and North and Central America, while less than 6 % of third country nationals in Slovenia are from Africa. Specific populations find specific employment, as may be inferred from the growing number of Chinese restaurants that create a demand for Chinese migrant labour (for example cooks and waitresses, but in the future possibly also Chinese food market purveyors etc.). Similarly, Thai women find work as masseuses in Thai massage parlours that are becoming increasingly popular because of their common location in the spas and health centres. However, such cases provide merely anecdotal evidence, such as are the general observations that women from the Dominican Republic might be involved in the sex industry. The migrants have traditionally found work in all the sectors that are considered dirty or underpaid by the native labour force that avoids them. This persists and is most obviously connected to the key professions of construction and cleaning that to a large extend involve migrant population. The stereotypical female migrant in Slovenia is a cleaner. There is an obvious need for further research into domestic work, especially in relation to the growing need for care of the elderly. As an additional hindrance to a deeper understanding of the domestic work problematic, in Slovenia care within the family is reduced to childcare. Childcare is also recognised as the most important family function, whereas social policies are quite ineffective in promoting a reconciliation of work and family life, resulting in a double burden for women. Moreover, there is no data or research on female marriage migrants in Slovenia, allowing the issue of abuse and exploitation often related to arranged marriages and marriages of convenience to remain invisible. The research on prostitution and trafficking in persons relating these phenomena to the demand side identified a need for a proactive policy, i.e. integration programmes for victims of trafficking, efficient employment programmes for women, providing them with substantial financial support while searching for new employment in order to prevent potential forced labour. As in other developed countries, Slovenia has seen a steady rise in the tertiary sector, reflected in the labour market s demand for services. It is unclear how many migrant women find work in industrial cleaning, hotels and restaurants, let alone in informal domestic work. Nevertheless, the overall demand for personal services characteristic of Western Europe can also be established for Slovenia. The aging of the population, a significant incidence of single parenthood and the lack of gender-equal distribution of domestic chores are no doubt factors contributing to the growing demand for personal services and domestic work. Demand for prostitution also cannot be ignored, nor can the relation to the fact that Slovenia has appeared as a transit country, but also a destination country and a country of origin for trafficking in human beings. Slovenia s current and future demographic trends will play a significant role in the demand for personal care and household work. The aging of Slovenia s population will have increasing ramifications for the economy, and migration will sooner or later become a necessary resource for the highly valued active population. The Slovene labour market will soon begin to express the demand for domestic work, in various forms but particularly in taking care of the elderly and helping overburdened women with household work such as cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing etc. For the time being at least, it seems that the existing native labour force, predominantly the rising number of long-term unemployed women, can meet such a demand. However, as is often the case, the work in question is hard physical work with a low level of social respect. It may soon 10

11 prove that not all the domestic women are prepared to or even capable of performing such work. After all, many are unemployed because of disabilities, and most of them are above the age of 50. Therefore we may end with a prediction that young female migrants will bridge the gap and quench the coming increase in labour market demand in Slovenia as well. The only question remains when the scales will tip, from where these migrants will come, and what responses at the policy level are we to expect, and whether these will meet female migrants life aspirations. Poland When talking about general trends and problems with regard to the structure of the Polish labour market one predominant factor prevails extremely high costs of employment for the employer. Experts agree that the phenomenon of very high level of registered unemployment in Poland is caused by this very factor, and that the majority of those formally unemployed are actually working but their work isn t registered. Unemployment status gives eligibility to medical insurance paid by the state thus taking the responsibility and high costs of employment from the employer. As for many Polish citizens work isn t documented, the situation among the immigrant workforce is even more dramatic. Yet, tools combating illicit work are highly underdeveloped. Although throughout the past year only 1795 illegal foreign workers were apprehended, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Very cautious estimates of the National Employment Agency mention thousand foreigners working without proper documents. However, independent experts estimate that there might be several times more foreigners working illegally, from 250 thousand to as many as 1.5 million people, depending on the month. To present the figures in a proper context during the period form only work permits were issued to foreigners, out of which only to women. It should, however, be emphasized that foreigners working illegally constitute only a part of the so called grey area of the Polish economy which according to the Central Statistical Office provides work for over 900 thousand Poles (The Polish Confederation of Private Employers estimates that this number may be even bigger) and produces about 15 percent of the GNP. For legal acts regulating the employment of foreigners in the country focus in the first place on the protection of the national labour force, complicated and lengthy procedures for obtaining a permit for legal work are another effective barrier blocking access to the Polish labour market for many foreigners. The most important include: complicated procedure involved in employing a foreigner; the fact that the law allows the issuance of the work permit only for a short, strictly specified period of time, for a narrow group of professions; the high risk of refusal of the permit; the need to provide many documents indispensable for the submission of the application; a relatively large fee charged for the permit (200 EUR for every new permit; half of this price for prolongation). With the regard to demand and supply of the foreign labour force are concerned, immigrants are employed mostly in the private sector of the economy in fields such as: construction, agriculture, small frontier trade or household services (keeping the house, cleaning or childcare). In the sector of the labour market where the majority of the female immigrants in Poland are concentrated the domestic and care sector the labour policy officials are currently at the very beginning of the process of creating policies regulating it. The most recent law, passed on 28th July 2005, took effect on January by introducing a new mechanism to activate the unemployed by supporting paid domestic and care work performed in households. Paid domestic and care work is defined as performing, for the sake of the persons living in a household and sharing the responsibilities of maintaining it, tasks related to keeping this household or taking care of a person living in it. Under these regulations, the following job positions were created: persons taking care of children, the elderly or the disabled; cooks; housemaids; cleaning persons; 11

12 chambermaids; housekeepers; footmen; gardeners; maintenance persons. Available so far are only estimated numbers of foreign women employed in this sector, according to the recent qualitative research conducted among female immigrants employed in private households in the Warsaw region, the majority of employees worked as housecleaners (34%), gardeners (11%), care person for elderly (11%) and in childcare (6%). Employers aren t however willing to register their domestic employee s work due to very high costs of employment and lengthy, complicated procedures of obtaining the work permit mentioned above. Also, female immigrants are more often that Polish women employed on temporary basis. Women also prevail among other foreign workforce in the public sector of the labour market, employed mostly in education, as teachers, interpreters, translators, cultural mediators often combining this kind of work requiring high level of education and developed skills with part time work in the domestic and care sector of labour market. Concerning the law mentioned in the previous Policy Brief, allowing Ukrainian nationals to work in agriculture without the work permit for a period of time shorter than three months, it has proven ineffective due to the costs of employment. It is more cost-effective for both, the employer and the employee coming only for three months to perform unregistered work. Cyprus The country s economic growth in recent years and the successful harmonisation process allowed Cyprus to accede to the EU in The late 1970s, the 1980s and 1990s saw a massive economic growth and migrant workers were allowed in 1990 to meet the labour market shortages. During the last decades we saw unemployment rising but remaining at a low level and economic growth to slow down, but always remaining on average above the EU average. Therefore, within two decades, Cyprus was transformed from an agricultural country into one whose economy is based on tourism and services. The recent increase in the movement of migrant workers to Cyprus is associated with the economic development and economic restructuring that took place in Cyprus which created conditions for additional labour demand in the productive spheres of the economy and for the provision of services such as the case of domestic workers. During the 1990s there was a steady increase in the number of migrant workers in Cyprus, working on a temporary basis through fixed period work permits. During this period there was also an increase in the number of migrant workers not holding the required permit (undocumented migrant workers). Women in Cyprus have a lower employment rate than men and a higher unemployment rate; their average pay is lower than men's; they are more likely to work part time or on a temporary basis. Recent legislation on gender equality workplace has only marginal effect on pay, whilst bargaining at least so far has failed to deal with equality issues. Women's share of overall employment is significantly lower than that of men. The gap between the numbers of employed men and women in Cyprus is greater than in most of the current EU Member States. However, in recent years the composition of employment has displayed a small but steady shift in women's favour. According to data from the National Statistical Service of Cyprus, over the presence of women in the labor market showed a steady increase. The percentage of women (of all ages) in employment rose to 41.3% in 2001 from 39.1% in 1995, while the corresponding rate for men was 60.9% in 1995 and 59.7% in Therefore, native women s increasing participation in the labour market and their high level of tertiary education attainment create the conditions favouring employment of other women to undertake traditional sex-roles bounded to the private sphere. Thus, in part as a result of social modernisation at the level of Cypriot society, work migrant women begin to fill in a newly emergent gap created as 12

13 more and more women become active in formal employment. Therefore, the migrant women take up jobs related to the informal private sphere of household chores and care provided to children and elderly. This also reflects the underdevelopment of the state formal sector and welfare services to provide care and services for families. There are no specifically targeted policies on female migrants or female migrant workers in Cypriot context, except for situations in certain sectors of the economy where the workforce is entirely constituted of women such as domestic work and sex industry. As a characteristic of the general policy on migration in Cyprus we can refer to an immigration-integration conundrum, given that so far there is no integration policy as such. There is a general immigration policy that regulates the entrance and stay of migrants as well as policies dealing with the employment of temporary permit foreign workers on low skill, low paid and low status jobs unwanted by natives; however, these are not integrated as a comprehensive and well-designed migration policy, nor is there planning for dealing with immigration-related issues in Cyprus. According to the declared policy principle, the migrants should enjoy equality of opportunity and treatment with nationals, in matters of employment terms and conditions. Therefore, with the exception of employment in the public sectors that is reserved for Cypriot citizens, all labour laws and regulations apply in the case of migrant workers. The employers are obliged to conform and in case of non-compliance, according to the law they are penalized and no work permits are granted to them in the future for the employment of foreign workers. There are no specific policies regulating domestic and care work in Cypriot context, except for the procedure for the employment of domestic assistants. The procedure of issuing work permits is based on applications by employers which should meet the criteria for employment of foreigners (i.e. the investigation of the possibility of satisfying the needs of the employer by local labour force, Cypriot or European citizens). The employment of domestic workers in private houses is conditioned by the employers fulfilling some conditions and moreover, all employers must submit a bank guarantee letter to cover possible expenses of repatriation. In terms of negative consequences of the policy, despite that the contract provided is a standard one from 1990 up to 2007 domestic workers have not received any pay rise. The National Equality Body found that the monthly salary provided in the contract is five times less than the wage of a Cypriot domestic aide. In addition, migrant domestic workers are not entitled to thirteenth salary or cost of living allowance. There have been reports of a more recent version of the standard contract that provides for a yearly pay rise of five per cent, however this is not observed by employers and there is no system in place to address this systematic violation on the part of the employers. According to specific sections in the Criminal Code, prostitution is not prohibited; however some prostitution related activities are. Moreover, it is prohibited to migrant women in Cyprus to be prostitutes; otherwise they face deportation. Cypriot nightclubs or cabarets employ, every three months, migrant women, many of whom are from former USSR countries and other eastern European countries, to work as entertainers or artistes (cabaret dancers) as they are formally and informally called. The reason is that their visa is a special one, granted for artistic purposes. It is common knowledge that many of these women are prostitutes and a number of them are trafficking victims. Cabaret dancers are not officially allowed to engage in prostitution, but this does happen on a routine basis. The question of regulation of prostitution of foreign women is problematic as it hits on social and patriarchal conservatism and moreover reflects a tacit understanding which expresses itself as a kind of unofficial policy in practice of strictly controlling the sexuality of cabaret dances for health reasons (aids, and other sexually transmitted diseases). In terms of negative consequences, the result is the failure to monitor compliance of the law and many of these women are caught in the margins of illegality and their dependence on their employer-pimp increases. 13