Migrant segregation and labour standards

The increasing evidence of migrant segregation in the labour market, and its effects on inequality, calls for theoretical explanations that may allow to distinguish the determining causes and, thereby, envisage possible solutions. The chapter presents the limitations of economic explanations and reviews the arguments used, implicitly or explicitly, in studies of migrant labour’s segmentation, distinguishing in particular those that focus on capitalism, on management, on the state, and on societal factors. It discusses strengths and weaknesses of each approach and proposes that, given the importance of flexibility as a line of segmentation, more attention to the labour process provides the link to combine different theories.