Immigrants’ employment and integration in Barcelona: a qualitative study

Abstract

The research addresses the role played by employment in the Integration process of immigrants in Barcelona, Spain. It regards two main identified aspects of Integration: 1) legal insertion (related to the institutional ‘right to stay’); and 2) the sociocultural integration (development of bonds and a ‘sense of belonging’ with the host society). Integration became a growing concern throughout European countries since the 1980s, due to the meaningful demographic changes caused by the arrival of ‘new’ foreign collectives in those ‘culturally consolidated’ nations. Neoliberalism advent resulted in a ‘migration boom’ to regions understood as economically central and concentrating work opportunities, e.g. Western Europe. The fact led to the development of migration regulatory frameworks that, on the intention of containing harmful migration effects, define ideas of ‘legitimate belonging’ and ‘deserving integration’ in the mindsets of host societies. Those oftentimes, drawn on the basis of immigrants’ economic contribution. The research draws on ethnographic methods, delivering a qualitative study that complements a body of quantitative researches over the immigrants’ reality in Spain. The findings support the literature indication of socioeconomic segmentation, where different immigrants’ collectives tend to be driven to specific sectors of society, according to their ‘national profiles’. Conversely, the research advocates for ‘less deterministic conclusions’, once the influence of the fruitful cosmopolitan environment and progressive Integration policies of Barcelona.