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Call for papers: Migration and the future of work

November 28, 2022
call-for-papers-paris-2023

For an international workshop, co-convened by Institut Convergences, the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration at Toronto Metropolitan University and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Date: Wed. Mar. 29, 2023

Location: Campus Condorcet, Centre des Colloques, Aubervilliers, France

The future of work is shaped by a range of technological, political and social changes that are creating both threats and opportunities for recent as well as established migrants and their labour market trajectories. Advanced Digital Technologies have shifted how global talent is recruited, selected, and managed including opening up new opportunities for migrants (for instance new ways of defining and assessing skills, developing skills, matching job seekers to employment opportunities, and providing support in the workplace). At the same time such technologies may create and exacerbate precarious and ‘atypical’ working conditions like those in gig work for digital platforms (like Uber, Taskrabbit and others). The picture is quite complex as recent research has shown that non-standard jobs in the platform economy may provide a point of entry for new immigrants, and that immigrant earnings gaps among non-standard or contingent workers are smaller than those among workers in standard jobs. But whether these jobs are a bridge to upward mobility is a question that needs to be answered with further analysis.

The proposed workshop will examine the many intersections between advanced digital technologies and the labour market integration of migrants. We will interrogate the role of advanced digital technologies in different immigration cycle stages, from recruitment to employment to post-migration integration and skills recognition. Both analytical and empirical paper proposals are welcome. We will privilege papers though that speak to more than their specific case study offering comparative insights or raising important policy or theoretical issues.

The workshop will start with a keynote Roundtable with Anna Triandafyllidou (CERC Migration, Toronto Metropolitan University); Jean Christophe Dumont (OECD); Hillel Rapoport (Paris School of Economics).

We are inviting original paper contributions (not yet published) for two panels:

  • Digital Nomads and Placeless Work, introduced by Kate Hooper, Migration Policy Institute
  • Migrant Workers in the Gig Economy, introduced by Niels Van Doorn, University of Amsterdam

If you are interested please send:

  • an abstract (up to 400 words including main topic, rationale, methodology and expected results)
  • a brief biographical note (up to 200 words) including your contact details and affiliation to cerc.migration@torontomu.ca by Dec. 15, 2022.

Selected participants will have their travel and accommodation expenses for participating in the workshop covered by CERC Migration and ICM. The Workshop will be in person only. Contributions to the workshop might be selected for a Special Issue publication. Please indicate for which panel you are applying. Selected participants will be notified by Jan. 15, 2023.