The role of migrant networks in linking local labour markets: the case of Asian Indian migration to New York and London

Abstract

Social networks have long been identified as crucial to migration flows and the economic behaviour of immigrants. Much of the literature on international migration and economic sociology specifically focuses on the role of interpersonal ties in influencing migration and economic action, such as finding employment. Using the case of Gujarati Indian migration to New York and London, the life histories of these immigrants illustrate that specific configurations of network ties result in different migration flows and occupational outcomes. These configurations include organizational, composite, and interpersonal ties that link local labour markets transnationally and channel immigrants to particular destinations and into particular occupations. The findings clarify the role and meaning of networks as they affect different types of migration and the occupational outcomes of migrants. The prominence of these network mechanisms also challenges the role of human capital in producing distinct outcomes for immigrants.

Strong or weak ties? British and Indian expatriate scientists finding jobs in Boston

“…Although there is a fairly extensive literature on how gender, race and class affect individuals obtaining jobs (Pratt and Hanson 1994;Hanson 2000;Chapple 2002;McDowell 2005;Squires and Kubrin 2005;Gray et al 2007;McDowell 2007), there has been less analysis of migrants (Bagchi 2001;Bashi 2007;Ooka and Wellman 2003;Poros 2001). Furthermore, there is an extensive literature on expatriates (Beaverstock 2002(Beaverstock , 2004(Beaverstock , 2005Saxenian 2002Saxenian , 2006Baláž and Williams 2004;Williams and Baláž 2005;Walsh 2006;Williams 2006;Scott 2006Scott , 2007Larner 2007;Chacko 2007), but little has been written about how highly skilled migrants find jobs.…”

Path‐dependency and Path‐creation Perspectives on Migration Trajectories: The Economic Experiences of Vietnamese Migrants in Slovakia1

“…This was hardly surprising given these pathways were determined by their social networks and business visa requirements. This illustrates how networks based on personal ties, in contrast to organizational or professional ties, can lead migrants into 'limiting ethnic niche occupations' and/or into 'a downward occupational trajectory' (Poros, 2001). In other words, there is path dependency, at least in the initial jobs taken by second phase migrants who utilize such networks.…”

Commercial migration intermediaries and the segmentation of skilled migrant employment

“…While intermediaries have always been important conduits of global mobility (Tilly, 1990;Poros, 2001;Beaverstock, 2002;Curran and Rivero-Fuentes, 2003;Flum and Cinnamon, 2011;Groutsis et al, 2015), we know less about how commercial intermediaries steer migrants into specific geographic, national and local labour markets (Massey and Espinoza, 1997;Peck and Theodore, 2001;Portes, 1995;Purkayastha, 2005).…”