Rural Economies in the ‘Age of Migration’: Perspectives from OECD Countries

Abstract

An important feature of globalisation processes has been the increased level of immigration. For the most part, this has been considered an urban phenomenon. As a consequence, a less well‐known feature of contemporary global immigration patterns is that an increasing proportion of immigrants are now settling in rural locations. Over the last decade, however, there has been a burgeoning of research into the political‐economic processes that have produced an increased level of immigration into rural regions in many OECD nation‐states. This paper begins by reviewing some of the reasons why this dimension of rural demographic change has gone under the radar of both researchers and policy makers. It then examines how immigration into rural regions is both an important feature of the multifunctional rural transition and a product of the ‘regionalisation’ of immigration policy as a distinct regional development strategy employed regarding rural areas.

International Labour Migration and Food Production in Rural Europe: A Review of the Evidence

“…In the ‘Age of Migration’ (Castles et al . ; Dufty‐Jones ) the contemporary abundance of migrant labour relates to global political, economic, legal and socio‐cultural processes that have eased barriers to mobility. For instance, the collapse of the Communist order in Eastern and Central Europe from 1989 set in motion large‐scale in‐migration of Albanians to rural Greece (Kasimis et al .…”

“…; McAreavey ; Rye ; Flynn and Kay ). Dufty‐Jones (, p. 370), for instance, notes that the conditions of labour migrants in rural communities are far less explored than of those in the metropolitan areas. Similarly, McAreavey (, p. 488) observes that: ‘little is known about the way in which migrants navigate their way through social structures as they settle into destinations with little experience of immigration’.…”

“…First, it is clear that the literature reviewed is empirically very strong and that there are excellent in‐depth qualitative case‐studies to draw on. Dufty‐Jones (, p. 377) argues though that ‘[f]uture research needs to be grounded in both robust and appropriate theoretical frameworks’ and, quoting Woods and Goodwin (, p. 250), warns against future research falling into the trap of privileging ‘new empirical knowledge over and above conceptual and theoretical development[s]’. Against these warnings, it is heartening to see a range of theoretical perspectives being used to explore and understand international migration to rural areas, such as the use of the mobilities paradigm (Skaptadóttir and Wojtynska ; Bell and Osti ; Milbourne and Kitchen ); the combined use of agri‐food systems and labour geography theory (Gertel and Sippel ) and migration theory (Corrado et al .…”

Making the case for Temporary Migrant Worker Programmes: Evidence from the UK's rural guestworker (‘SAWS’) scheme

“…There has, however, been limited academic attention directed towards this, especially in relation to low-wage migrant workers (Dufty-Jones, 2014). The research gap is in part due to the hidden nature of low-wage work in the countryside, and also the associated dominance of idyllic and bucolic representations of rurality (see for example, Halfacree, 1996).…”

“…Relatively limited academic attention has been directed towards international migrants working in rural areas and the associated demographic and economic changes underpinning, and emanating from, this (Dufty-Jones, 2014). It is clear, however, that developed world agriculture in particular has become increasingly reliant upon low-wage, but not necessarily low-skilled, migrant labour.…”