This working paper examines how labour-market vulnerability evolved for migrant workers during the pandemic and evaluates the inclusiveness of policy responses in five European countries: Germany, Ireland, Norway, Poland and Spain. The analysis pursues two objectives: 1) to analyse the labour-market policies and measures implemented in response to the COVID-19 crisis in these five countries; and 2) to assess whether and how these measures addressed the specific challenges faced by migrant workers.
The paper is structured as follows: Section 2 presents the background of the study, comparing the labour market position of migrants and natives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Section 3 outlines the methods employed in the qualitative analysis of labour market–related policy responses. Section 4 summarises the main types of COVID-19 labour market policy responses. Section 5 presents the results, and Section 6 concludes.
Authors: Ona Valls, Dominik Butler, Justyna Bell, Shirin Reiter, Robin Samuel