Migrant Construction Workers in Times of Crisis: Worker Agency, (Im)mobility Practices and Masculine Identities among Albanians in Southern Europe

Preface
Contents
1: Introduction
	References
2: Contexts, Methods, and Analytical Framework
	Albanian Emigration
	A Brief Overview on Immigration and Integration in Italy and Greece
	Residential Construction and Migrant Labour
		The Italian Construction Sector
		The Greek Construction Sector
	Research Design and Methods
		Data Analysis
		Milan and Athens
	Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks
		Migration Processes Through Different Levels of Analysis
		Key Theories and Concepts
		The Role of Migrant Networks in Getting Jobs and the Different Forms of Capitals to Access Resources
		Construction Workers’ Skills and Social Identities
	References
3: Migrant Construction Workers’ Agency in Times of Economic Recession
	Individual and Collective Agency of Migrant Construction Workers
	Increasing Mobility Power to Avoid Poor Work Conditions and Unemployment
		Differentiation of Social Ties to Avoid Entrapment in Ethnic Social Networks
		Getting Multiple Skills and Escaping from Penalised Trades and Strong Professional Identities
	Mobility Across Work Statuses: Neither Powerful Nor Powerless Own-Account Employed Workers
		Gaining Benefits Through Informal Own-Account Work
		Work Status Jumping as Career Advancement
		Work Status Jumping as Enforced Mobility Practice
	Collective Forms of Agency
		Avoiding Unpaid Overtime in a Group
		Collective Bellicose Power to Enforce Verbal Agreements
		Unions Perceived as Weak or Corrupted Organisations, or Service Providers
	Labour Agency Through the Lens of Reciprocal Interests Between Employers and Workers
		Maximising Earnings as Pieceworkers
		Coincidence of Interests Between Informal Workers and Employers
		Alignment of (Informal) Own-Account Workers with Clients
	Conclusions
	References
4: (Im)mobility and Coping Practices Among Albanian Construction Workers and Their Families Amidst the Great Recession and Its Aftermath
	Coping Practices and Experiences of (Im)mobility Among Migrants in Times of Crisis, Risk, and Change
	Physical Mobility and Immobility
		Internal Mobility Within Italy and Greece
		Onward Migration, Return to Albania, and Remigration to Italy or Greece
		“Why to Migrate Again?”: Spatial Immobility Beyond Views on Limited Agency and Economic Rationality
	Staying Put in the Host Country and Coping with the Implications of Unemployment and Under-Employment
		Cut of Expenses and Getting Assistance Through Institutional Channels and Social Ties
		Solutions to Access Accommodation and Limit Housing Expenses
		Finding Out Solutions for Childcare and Preschool Provisions
		Occupational Mobility
	Conclusions
	References
5: The Effects of the Economic Downturn on Masculine Identities and Their Relevance to Migrant Agency and Family Relations
	Job Loss, Male Identities and Breadwinning
	The Intersection of Migration, Culture and Workplace Identities
	The Experience of Unemployment at the Individual Level
	Coping Practices, Gender Norms, and Agency in the Family Sphere
		Men Insisting on or Reworking Their Breadwinning Role
		“Stay at Home to Do What?” Versus “Women Work and We Raise the Children”: Masculine Identities, Childcare and Housework
		Rigid, Flexible, and Hybrid Construction of Fatherhood Among Albanian Men
		Accessing Feminised Jobs: Rejection, Adaptability, and Agency
	Conclusions
	References
6: Conclusions
	A New Framework for the Study of Migrant Workers’ Coping Practices
	Trapped, Average, and Dynamic: Different Types of Migrants Employing Practices of Resilience, Reworking, and Resistance
	Migration in Southern Europe: Integration and Patterns of (Im)mobility in a Comparative Perspective
	Policy Implications and Recommendations
		Migration and Citizenship Policies
		Reforms in Employment Relations in the Construction Sector to Guarantee Fair Employment Conditions and Tackle Informal Economy
		Migrant Workers’ Requalification
		Trade Unions
	References
7: Epilogue: Migrant Construction Workers Admist COVID-19 Pandemic – A New Crisis Period?
	Introduction
	The Italian and Greek Construction Sectors Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic
	Jobs and Employment Conditions in Residential Construction: The Unexpected Effects of the Pandemic in a Period of Economic Recovery
	Pandemic and Spatial (Im)mobility: The Effects on Daily Practices and the Outcomes on Settled Migrants’ Employment
	The Implications of the Pandemic on Migrant Workers’ Well-Being, Personal Identities, and Families
	Discussion and Conclusions
	References
Appendices
	Appendix A: Employment Relations in the Greek Construction Sector
	Appendix B: Migrant Construction Workers – Research Participants 2015–2016
		Greece
		Italy
	Appendix C: Migrant Construction Workers – Research Participants 2021–2022
		Greece
		Italy
Index