Deskilling among "new" EU migrants in Vienna

Deskilling is a phenomenon particularly widespread among migrants. Especially the number of highly educated EU mobile citizens who work in a position below their qualification has risen significantly over the past years. However, although we do know about the statistical distribution of skills mismatches and the impact of individual variables on the chances of occupying lesser qualified job positions, few research has so far concentrated on the interplay between institutional and labour market structures and migrants agency in this respect. Our project aims to explore the concrete social processes involved in the production of the phenomenon of deskilling that may only be retraced from an individual perspective and to examine the phenomenon from different actors angles. Applying a qualitative research perspective, we strive to contribute to our understanding of deskilling processes in a migration context. We focus thereby on highly educated migrants from new EU member states living and working in the Austrian capital of Vienna. Based on the research principles of constructivist Grounded Theory, we opt for a multi-perspective and longitudinal methodical triangulation, combining a qualitative panel study with migrants (three repetitive interviews over a time-span of two years), interviews with Employment Service (AMS) advisors and other stakeholders, and complementary ethnographical observations.

The project analysed why many well-educated EU citizens from CEE work in underqualified jobs in the Austrian capital of Vienna. The project focused on barriers and difficulties faced by jobseekers from Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic. Opting for a multi-perspective and longitudinal methodical triangulation, we combined a qualitative panel study with migrants (three repetitive interviews), interviews with institutional actors, and complementary ethnographical observations. We collaborated closely with interpreters and translators. Various aspects such as racialisation, gender, class, parental, financial and educational background, health issues, language skills, and age affected our sample's experiences on the labour market. Our findings thus illustrate exemplarily the value of analysing deskilling and discrimination in the labour market from an intersectional perspective as well as the structural disadvantages that seemingly privileged migrants (e.g. middle-class, EU citizens, highly educated) might face. We identified general migration-related factors that contribute to deskilling, such as the lack of social networks, and language-related difficulties. While our sample was less affected by the non-recognition of diplomas than third-country migrants, several interviewees (especially in health-related professions) nevertheless faced important difficulties and bureaucratic barriers when aiming to get their credentials legally. Economic constraints forced many interviewees to quickly find work and to accept jobs below their qualifications. We also observed specific difficulties that we identified as related to interviewees' racialisation as 'Eastern Europeans.' Furthermore, we observed that German language skills are of particular importance when aiming for middle-class positions: many interviewees worked in middle-class positions where German was not necessarily the only (official) working language, but generally of high relevance. Several interviewees saw their general disadvantage as non-native speakers in the labour market - even if they felt sufficiently competent to communicate and work in German, because language issues may transcend communication problems (e.g. accent-related discrimination). Moreover, our findings show how gender is also highly relevant to migration-related deskilling, in particular the gendered division of care work and labour where the woman assumes the role of the primary care giver in the family. Also, the high demand for migrant workers that characterises the low-paid and predominantly female care sector in many countries contributes not only to the phenomenon of deskilling among women who face both gender and migration-related disadvantages on the labour market, but also more broadly to a hierarchised labour market where structural inequalities are legitimised by gendered ascriptions as well as racialising processes. Pursuing an innovative multilingual approach, the project contributed to methodological development in the context of societal multilingualism,especially regarding the involvement of interpreters. Also, the longitudinal approach proved valuable to capture the temporal dimension of deskilling as well as building trust in order to approach sensitive topics in the interviews.