Are Labour Markets Inclusive for Ukrainian War Migrants? Perspectives From Polish and Italian Migration Infrastructure Actors

Abstract

The arrival of several million Ukrainians in the EU since February 2022 has posed new challenges to migration infrastructure. In this article, we pay particular attention to the determinants of labour market entry and its inclusiveness for war migrant women in countries with a history of Ukrainian labour migration. According to Xiang and Lindquist (2014), migration infrastructure consists of five overlapping dimensions: regulatory, commercial, social, technological, and humanitarian. These dimensions influence the position and behaviour of migrants in their host countries. Using this lens, we investigate how the actors within the migration infrastructure in Poland and Italy have played their part in facilitating the newcomers’ access to quality paid jobs as well as the biggest barriers they face in this process. Our analysis is based on the results of original field research carried out in 2023, when, apart from other methodological approaches, 37 in‐depth interviews with key infrastructure actors were conducted. The findings reveal large‐scale collaboration among migration infrastructure actors with overlapping commercial, social, and humanitarian dimensions in both countries. The text contributes to the growing stream of research on the so‐called infrastructural turn in labour migration in Europe, especially in terms of changes triggered by crises.