Precarious Work in Lithuania: Integration Challenges into the Labour Market for Foreign Born Citizens

Abstract

Based on the works of Lithuanian and foreign scientists, this article analyses the problems of precarious employment or synonymous compliance-insecure work. The distinguished dimensions of the theoretical analysis of the insecure employment form the supporting field of the article, and the empirical part consists of the data of the statistical data (Eurostat, Migration Department, EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), Lithuanian Public Employment Service, Lithuanian Department of Statistics, review of the legal acts (legal basis of the Republic of Lithuania and the European Union) and the data obtained during the qualitative survey. The conducted analysis made it possible to highlight the conditions of insecure employment of foreigners working in Lithuania as non-EU citizens, including insecurity due to loss of income, poor career opportunities, abuse by employers, or uncertainty about job retention. The integration of migrant workers into the Lithuanian labour market is particularly problematic from a legal point of view-the possibility of changing the employer's temporary residence permit (TRP) during the issuing period has been made more difficult. In the latter case, the employee is, so to speak, tied to a specific job, and the employer has the possibility to dispose of the amount of remuneration, the loss of work and, of course, the lack of safe working conditions. Insecurity is exacerbated by the limitations of the legal framework as well as strict regulations/migration procedures. The problems are exacerbated in times of crisis, when there is a risk of losing one's job, delays in processing migration documents, reduced wages, and insufficient social protection.