Datta Work

Claims London is increasingly characterised by inequality in the labour market, especially with the expansion of lowly paid jobs occupied by migrants.1 suggest that these migrants keep London going by their presence in the “public reproductive and services sector”2
“The most recent, and perhaps most contested in terms of definition, has been a focus on
transnationalism and transmigration. This approach stresses the interconnections and networks
developed among migrant groups between source and destinations areas and how social, cultural
and economic fields often become transnational in nature”3


Britain “neo-liberal” policies: 1) decline in manufacturing 2) expansion of service industry, both in the banking, finance and creative industries, and in the low paid jobs 3) less secure employment for low paid jobs through subcontracting, agency staffing and temporary employment 4) decline in trade union power 5) creation of a “migrant division of labour”4 London: 1 in 7 workers under £5.8 an hour threshold; 1 in 5 under £6.7 an hour threshold.5
“Many of those in the lower echelons of the labour market are migrants. Indeed, London receives
around one-third of all migrants to the UK and it is estimated that between 1975 and 2000, some
450,000 migrants migrated to London (Hamnett, 2003). Furthermore, many of these migrants were
recent arrivals. Drawing on the latest Labour Survey Force (2002/2003) and the 2001 UK Census,
Spence (2005) notes that out of the 2 million Londoners born outside of the UK, 23% arrived in
this country before 1970, and 45% arrived after 1990. The ethnic profile of migrants is also diverse
with Whites constituting the largest group (40%), followed by Asians (27%) and Blacks (20%).
Also significant is that the majority of London’s migrants come from the Global South (70%), with
India, Bangladesh, Jamaica, Nigeria, Pakistan and Kenya providing the largest groups. Migrants
now account for 35% of the working age population and 29% of the total population in the capital
(ibid). Furthermore, these figures do not account for informal workers, including undocumented
migrants, so that the true size of the economically active migrant workforce is likely to be higher
than that reported officially”6


“London migrants have much lower employment rates (65%) than Londoners born in the UK (78%),
although migrants from developing countries show lower employment rates (61%) than those from
developed economies (75%); the latter are more likely to work in professional and managerial
occupations, while the former are concentrated in services and especially the hotel and restaurant
sectors. Moreover, migrants constitute 46% of all workers in typically low-paid ‘elementary’
occupations, such as labourers, postal workers, porters, catering staff and cleaners. People from
Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and South Asia often find it especially hard to
secure well-paid work, even if arriving in the UK with good skills and high level qualifications”7
Migrant acceptance of jobs which do not match their educational qualifications, with nearly half of those sampled having “tertiary level qualifications.”8 often involves a sense of loss of dignity.9
income maximisation achieved through working long hours, including overtime at normal rates of pay, with implications on leisure and family time. Students often forced to exceed the 20 hours limitations on their work.10 extra jobs taken on, especially in catering and cleaning.11 continuous changing between jobs.12 very low up take of state benefits, even in cases where migrants were eligible.13
multi-earner households, and restriction on consumption patterns.14
household sharing and reduction in utility bills.15
use of networks to share information about work, tendency of managers/supervisors to employ workers from a similar background.16 use of networks to share information about housing and cheap consumption patterns.17
ethnic identity and ethnic networks acting as a barrier to encourage a “migrant” identity/solidarity.18
hostility between different ethnic groups, increased with A8 accession.19
“The existence of such exclusion on ethnic based grounds and the existence of fractured or
‘perverse’ social capital potentially undermines the creation of community-based coping strategies
on class-based grounds.”20
“However, despite these divisions, from an organisational point of view, it appears that faith-based
organisations are potentially the most appropriate fora through which trade unions and migrant
groups can organise to address and overcome the exploitative conditions of work in global cities
like London”21
1K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 1.
2K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 1.
3K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 2.
4K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 3–4.
5K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 6.
6K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 7.
7K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 7.
8K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 10.
9K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 11.
10K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 11–12.
11K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 12–13.
12K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 13.
13K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 14–15.
14K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 15–16.
15K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 16–17.
16K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 17.
17K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 18.
18K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 19.
19K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 19–20.
20K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 20.
21K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Work And Survival Strategies among Low-Paid Care Migrants in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2006) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/working_paper_3.pdf , 22.