Return Migration in the Ecuadorian and Bolivian population: motivations, strategies and discourses

This article analyses the motivations for return migration among the Ecuadorians and Bolivians who, after living in Spain, returned to their countries of origin during the economic crisis that started in 2008. From the analysis of 22 interviews in-depth which took place in Ecuador and 38 in Bolivia to women, men and young people from migrant families, this decision-making process is shown to be embedded into a gendered dynamics of relationships. Particular detail is given to affective and economic elements that had an influence on the decision to return, as well as to the strategies deployed to project their readjustment back in origin. Males and females occupy differential positions within the family, work and social circle, their expectations being built in a gendered manner. Despite the fact migration has brought women greater economic power within the family group, their reintegration upon return redefines their role as main managers in the household and the dynamics that allow their social reproduction. Men, for their part, aspire to refresh their role as providers in spite of their frail labour position upon return. Social mobility for females is passed on through generations by a strong investment on education for their daughters and sons, while for males this mobility revolves around setting up family businesses and around their demonstrative abilities.

The Spanish reforms on domestic work regulation

This paper analyses the latest Spanish reforms regarding domestic work. The Spanish legislator, doubtlessly influenced by the ILO Domestic Work Convention nº 189 – which, however, was not later ratified in Spain- made a deep reform on domestic work in 2011. This legal reform implied a striking change that affected both working conditions and social security of employees in the family home. The aim of this reform has been to bring the regulation in domestic work closer to the general regulation for other workers, although maintaining certain specialties. Regarding working conditions, their setting as “particular employment relationship” has been held. However, the differences between this relationship and the common ones have been reduced. As for social security, domestic employees have been incorporated into the General Social Security System, but with important specialties, thus erasing the Special Domestic Employees System. The paper also examines the legal changes that have taken place in this field after the new Government arose.

Late-career international migration and reproductive work. A comparison between Peruvian and Ukrainian women in the Southern Europe

Research on the relationship between reproductive work and women´s life trajectories including the experience of labour migration has mainly focused on the case of relatively young mothers who leave behind, or later re-join, their children. While it is true that most women migrate at a younger age, there are a significant number of cases of men and women who move abroad for labour purposes at a more advanced stage, undertaking a late-career migration. This is still an under-estimated and under-researched sub-field that uncovers a varied range of issues, including the global organization of reproductive work and the employment of migrant women as domestic workers late in their lives. By pooling the findings of two qualitative studies, this article focuses on Peruvian and Ukrainian women who seek employment in Spain and Italy when they are well into their forties, or older. A commonality the two groups of women share is that, independently of their level of education and professional experience, more often than not they end up as domestic and care workers. The article initially discusses the reasons for late-career female migration, taking into consideration the structural and personal determinants that have affected Peruvian and Ukrainian women’s careers in their countries of origin and settlement. After this, the focus is set on the characteristics of domestic employment at later life, on the impact on their current lives, including the transnational family organization, and on future labour and retirement prospects. Apart from an evaluation of objective working and living conditions, we discuss women’s personal impressions of being domestic workers in the context of their occupational experiences and family commitments. In this regard, women report varying levels of personal and professional satisfaction, as well as different patterns of continuity-discontinuity in their work and family lives, and of optimism towards the future. Divergences could be, to some extent, explained by the effect of migrants´ transnational social practices and policies of states.

Migrant domestic workers, vulnerability and the law: immigration and employment laws in Cyprus and Spain

The intersection of gender, welfare and immigration regimes has been one of the main focus of a rich scholarship on paid domestic work in Europe. This article brings into the discussion the nexus of employment and immigration law regimes to reflect on the role of legal regulation in structuring and reducing the vulnerability of domestic workers. I analyse this nexus by looking at the cases of Cyprus and Spain, two states falling under the cluster of Southern Mediterranean welfare regimes, that share certain characteristics in terms of immigration regimes, but have substantially different employment law regulation models. The first part sketches the debate on the employment law regulation of domestic work. The second part starts by giving an overview of the immigration regimes of Cyprus and Spain in relation to migrant domestic workers and then proceeds to analyse the two countries’ models and substance of employment law regulation in domestic work. The comparison of these two divergent approaches informs the debate on how the legal regulation of domestic work should be best structured. In Spain there have been recent dynamic legislative changes in the employment law regulation of domestic work. The final part of the article traces these changes and reflects on why such processes have not taken place in Cyprus.

Migrant women’s employment in paid reproductive work through the crisis: the case of Italy (2007-2012)

Paid reproductive work, especially in the case of cleaning and home-care for elderly people, is an important sector for foreign women in Italy. For this reason, since the beginning of the current economic crisis, scholars have wondered about the impact of the recession on migrant domestic workers. They have looked particularly at possible competition with Italian women entering the sector for lack of better alternatives. Our paper takes this discussion a step further by assessing the overall changes affecting migrant women in the Italian labour market, 2007-2012. We will look at how their position has been transformed, by taking both an ethnic perspective, in relation to Italian women, and a gender perspective, in relation to migrant men. By way of a conclusion, the argument will be made that there is a substantial lack of competition between Italian and foreign women in the care and domestic sector due to differences in their earnings, hours of work and activities.

Gendered Responses to Global Crisis: Circular Migration and Return among Ecuadorian Families in Spain and Ecuador

This paper analyzes the impact of Spain’s economic crisis on social reproduction strategies of Ecuadorian migrant families in Madrid and Quito. The paper analyzes circular migration experiences and more permanent returns to Ecuador. I argue that these strategies and migrants' greater or lesser capabilities to move between different migration destinations show significant gender differences. On the one hand, men and women make a differential use of their migratory status to deploy transnational strategies and expand their mobility. On the other hand, migrants’ degree of mobility and flexibility with regard to the labor market and transnational social reproduction are derivative of a specific gendered order and sexual division of labor.

Perspectives on gender, migration and transnational work: joint work of social reproduction and care in Southern Europe

This paper presents the "state of the art" and some of the main issues discussed in relation to the topic of transnational migration and reproductive work in southern Europe. We start doing a genealogy of the complex theoretical development leading to the consolidation of the research program, linking consideration of gender with transnational migration and transformation of work and ways of survival, thus making the production aspects as reproductive, in a context of globalization. The analysis of the process of multiscale reconfiguration of social reproduction and care, with particular attention to its present global dimension is presented, pointing to the turning point of this line of research that would have taken place with the beginning of this century, with the rise notions such as "global care chains" (Hochschild, 2001), or "care drain" (Ehrenreich and Hochschild, 2013). Also, the role of this new agency, now composed in many cases women who migrate to other countries or continents, precisely to address these reproductive activities, is recognized. Finally, reference is made to some of the new conceptual and theoretical developments in this area.

Immigration in Spain: Integration with Feet of Clay?

The aim of the paper is to analyze the impact of the economic crisis on the integration of the immigrant population in Spain. The Spanish case is singular because during the years of intense immigration achieved a remarkable degree of socio-cultural integration. The paper argues that such integration it has been the result of the confluence of exceptional factors rather than the result of the policy making. From a mixed methodology approach, it shows that, during the period of expansion, two factors of the immigration contribute to their coexistence with native population: finding job and access to public services. But the economic crisis, with its impact in terms of job losses and austerity policies, expose the weaknesses of the Spanish model of integration.

Documentos audiovisuales y prácticas laborales en las bibliotecas populares de La Plata : Un estudio de caso

Se describe y analiza el tratamiento que los documentos audiovisuales reciben, a través de las políticas de desarrollo de colecciones, los procesos técnicos y los servicios, en una muestra de bibliotecas populares de la ciudad de La Plata. Se señala la existencia de un panorama común a la mayor parte de las bibliotecas. Se destacan las características de dos instituciones que se constituyen como excepciones a esta generalidad

Trayectorias laborales fragmentadas en un contexto de privatización : Un estudio de caso en Argentina

Este artículo perseguimos el objetivo de comprender las consecuencias que la privatización y reestructuración productiva de la empresa estatal argentina Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (en adelante YPF) acarreó sobre las trayectorias laborales de sus ex trabajadores. Esta firma constituye un caso extremo del proceso de privatización de empresas públicas que tuvo lugar en Argentina en la década de 1990, proceso que presentó rasgos que en otros países se dieron de manera desarticulada. ;En este artículo en particular desarrollamos los resultados de una investigación empírica en la que enfocamos la mirada en las diferentes trayectorias laborales de los ex agentes de la refinería La Plata. Esta refinería se encuentra ubicada en la provincia de Buenos Aires y es una de las unidades productivas de refinación más importante de Argentina y América Latina. ;A partir de un estudio que complementa técnicas de investigación cualitativas y cuantitativas analizamos las diferentes trayectorias laborales seguidas por los ex obreros petroleros de esta refinería, con la idea de identificar aquellos factores que nos permitirían comprender dichas diferencias

Las competencias laborales: ¿La estrategia laboral para las competitividad de las organizaciones?

Este artículo determina un esquema general de la aplicación de los principios y metodologías que permiten la formación y certificación basados en Competencias laborales, como uno de los pilares que facilitan a las organizaciones ser competitivas. Sepresentan los modelos que imperan en el tema, así como los diferentes postulados y metodologías que sistematizan el concepto en las organizaciones, los cuales son en relacióncon el desarrollo de las competencias parte de las variables a considerar, para conceptuar que la formación tradicional no constituye la vía para desarrollar competencias en los individuos,ya que ésta no considera el rol que juegan las experiencias eneste proceso. Más bien, se afirma que en la actualidad el ndividuo se va formando a través de dichas experiencias (que constituye la vía para el desarrollo de las competencias) que éste adquiere durante el desarrollo de su carrera profesional. Ahora, en todo este proceso, es el propio individuo el que debe participar demanera activa en su propia formación, aprovechando al máximo estas experiencias, lo cual resulta clave no sólo para desarrollar las competencias existentes, sino también para adquirir otras nuevas. Se considera además que en una misma experiencia pueden desarrollarse varias competencias y que a su vez, toda competencia puede ser desarrollada por experiencias diversas. Finalmente, se destaca el importante rol que tiene la organización en la creación de condiciones favorables para que todo este proceso sea efectivo.

REMESAS, MIGRACIONES Y DESARROLLO RURAL EN EL SALVADOR

Este artículo discute la relación entre migraciones, remesas y desarrollo rural en El Salvador. La hipótesis principal es que las remesas compensan los efectos negativos de las migraciones y contribuyen a mejorar las condiciones de vida de los hogares rurales. Los hallazgos indican que mayores migraciones de mano de obra rural han resultado, como era de esperarse, en más hogares rurales recibiendo ingresos en concepto de remesas, lo que a su vez ha contribuido a incrementar las migraciones. Ambos factores han afectado negativamente el uso de la tierra rural para cultivos. Los hogares rurales que dedican su tierra a cultivos registran menores niveles de emigración pero a la vez, reciben más ingresos en concepto de remesas. Esto sugiere que una parte de las remesas se usa para financiar la producción o inversiones relacionadas con la producción. Las remesas pueden tener un potencial mucho más grande, aún no explotado, para generar condiciones que lleven a usar productivamente la tierra cultivable. Es necesario promover esquemas innovadores, que sin imponer restricciones sobre las decisiones de los hogares rurales sobre cómo asignar los fondos recibidos en concepto de remesas, creen condiciones para que éstos produzcan para el mercado y se integren de mejor manera a la economía.

Los roles del profesional en recreaci?n en los entornos laborales de Cali

Los temas tratados en esta investigaci?n pretenden ser relevantes desde el aporte de las pr?cticas realizadas por algunos de los egresados del programa de recreaci?n, donde muestran los diferentes espacios en los que se puede desempe?ar el futuro Profesional. De esta manera se hace un acercamiento a las condiciones que permiten realizar e identificar las caracter?sticas del entorno en el que se mueve el Profesional en Recreaci?n. Con el fin que la informaci?n expuesta en nuestra investigaci?n sea relevante y se pueda visualizar los diferentes procesos por los que pasa el estudiante de Recreaci?n hasta llegar a la finalizaci?n de sus estudios, estimamos pertinente aportar en este texto los anexos correspondientes a las entrevistas que se llevaron a cabo con las personas que hicieron parte de las mismas. Consideramos que, de esta manera, alguien interesado en seguir profundizando nuestro tema de investigaci?n podr? encontrar informaci?n que pueda ser de utilidad en los relatos aportados por los entrevistados, as? como pistas que permitir?n ahondar en otros planteamientos que no fueron tenidos en cuenta en esta investigaci?n.