Researcher discovered that migrants lived more stable lives in the USA than in Norway

Migrants are often overrepresented in what is known as 'precarious work.'

These are jobs characterised by insecure contracts, unpredictable income, and limited rights.

Such insecure employment affects residence status and access to welfare services.

Researcher Ann Cathrin Corrales-Øverlid at the University of Bergen has made this the core of her research.

“I want to understand what makes migrants exploitable, but also what acually protects them and where they find social protection,” she says.

Without a stable job, you lose many rights

Corrales-Øverlid challenges a widespread tendency in politics – and to some extent in research – to treat labour, migration, and welfare as separate fields.

Her research shows that exposure to exploitation rarely arises within a single system; it emerges at the intersection between them.

One concrete example is that many welfare schemes require stable, long-term employment to qualify for rights and benefits.

At the same time, many labor contracts available to migrants are often temporary, zero-hour, or on-call.

Politicians give with one hand and take with the other

For migrants caught in this intersection, the result is both insecurity and increased exposure to exploitation.

"With one hand, policymakers seek to improve work conditions through labour market regulations, while with the other they tighten requirements for legal and permanent residency, making people more exposed to exploitation", the researcher says.

The research is based on fieldwork conducted in several countries, including Peru, the United States, Egypt, and Norway.

From informal businesses in Peru to the platform economy in Norway

In Peru, Corrales-Øverlid followed women working in the informal economy, without regulated employment conditions.

In the United States, she studied women from Peru who ran their own businesses. Many of them were undocumented migrants.

She recently conducted fieldwork in Egypt, where she followed Sudanese women. They had fled to Cairo because of the ongoing war and had started their own businesses there.

In Norway, she investigates sectors such as construction and cleaning, as well as the growing platform economy. This includes food delivery, cleaning services, and similar work mediated through apps.

“By comparing different institutional contexts, we can better understand what actually creates protection, and what creates exposure to exploitation,” she says.

Where do people turn when the system falls short?

Corrales-Øverlid shifts the focus from institutions to people themselves.

Instead of asking which systems exist, she asks where people go when they need help.

“Most people encounter a safe and regulated working life in Norway. At the same time, we see that some sectors at the margins of the labour market are characterised by insecure conditions and severe exploitation. Migrants are often overrepresented in these sectors,” she says.

She points to challenges such as wage theft, unpaid overtime, and lack of access to rights such as sick pay and holiday pay.

Non-profit organisations play an important role

Many migrants seek or are referred to support outside the welfare state and labour market systems.

Non-profit organisations such as Caritas, the Salvation Army, and Church City Mission often play an important role.

“In practice, these organisations take over functions we usually associate with trade unions or public institutions,” she says.

Corrales-Øverlid points to a paradox:

“In the United States, I have met undocumented migrants living under extremely difficult conditions, with strict migration control and limited public welfare protection. Yet many still manage to create relatively stable lives through work in the informal economy and through social networks,” she says.

They live more insecure lives in Norway

“At the same time, we see that migrants with legal residence and work permits in Norway –  a country known for offering safe working conditions – can end up in highly precarious situations and without access to rights that the rest of the population takes for granted,” says Corrales-Øverlid.

This issue continues to drive her research forward.

“I am interested in understanding how both formal and informal protection mechanisms work, and how migrants navigate them in order to create decent lives through work,” she says.

References:

Bendixsen, S.K.N. & Corrales-Øverlid, A.C. Velferdsstatens nådeløse optimisme (The Cruel Optimism of the Welfare State), Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift, 2024. DOI: 10.18261/nat.35.3-4.2

Corrales-Øverlid, A.C. «Alle vet at Norge er best»: Kampen mot prekære og utnyttende arbeidsforhold i det norske arbeidslivet og velferdssamfunnet (“Everyone knows Norway is best”: Struggles Against Precarious and Exploitative Work Relations in the Norwegian Labor Market), Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift, 2024. DOI: 10.18261/nat.35.3-4.7

Corrales-Øverlid, A.C. Food as a social weapon: Peruvian immigrant entrepreneurs claiming home, belonging, and distinction in Southern California, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2023. DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2023.2193244 

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Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no

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