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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of immigration on the labour market outcomes of low-educated natives (i.e. residents without a university diploma). Using the labour market competition theory, which argues that the labour market effects of natives depend on the skill set of immigrants, the paper addresses whether immigrants are complementary to or substitutes for native workers.Design/methodology/approachLongitudinal matched employer–employee data on Sweden are used to estimate how low-educated natives, in regions experiencing the greatest influx of refugees from the Balkan wars, responded to this supply shock with regard to real wages, employment and job mobility between 1990 and 2003.FindingsFirst, the analysis shows that low-educated native workers respond to the arrival of immigrants with an increase in real wages. Second, although employment prospects in general worsened for low-skilled workers in most regions, this is not attributable to the regions experiencing the largest supply shock. Third, there are indications that low-skilled natives in immigration-rich regions are more likely to change workplace, particularly in combination with moving upwards in the wage distribution.Originality/valueRather than seeing an emergence of the commonly perceived displacement mechanism when an economy is subject to a supply shock, the regional findings suggest that high inflows of immigrants tend to induce a mechanism that pulls native workers upwards in the wage distribution. This is important, as the proportion of immigrants is seldom evenly distributed within a nation.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to estimate the causal effect of minimum wages on the employment of low-skilled workers in less developed regions of China.Design/methodology/approachBased on data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, a double-difference (DD) methodology is used to compare the employment of low-skilled individuals before and after a minimum wage increase in their provinces with a comparison group of individuals in provinces that did not have a minimum wage increase. Also, a triple-difference methodology (DDD) is used that also includes an additional control group of highly educated workers as a within-province internal comparison group that should not be affected by a minimum wage increase.FindingsNo evidence of an adverse employment effect is found in any of the 36 different estimates, consistent with recent US evidence that uses a similar DD methodology.Research limitations/implicationsThe data are not national representative; rather heavily weighted towards the less developed Central, Western and parts of the Eastern Regions of China. This may partially explain the absence of the theoretically expected adverse employment effect. Other related reasons are discussed, including: lack of enforcement in those less developed regions; a large presence of state-owned enterprises in the regions where employment security clause remains intact; the relatively less developed labour markets in the regions including where employers may behave in a monopsony fashion in their labour markets; shock effects; and cost offsets from reduced fringe benefits and increases in the pace of work. This paper was unable to disentangle the separate effect of these possible factors.Originality/valueThis is one of the few studies on minimum wages in China to focus on low-skilled workers in less developed regions, to use individuals as the unit of observation rather than aggregates, and to provide causal estimates based on DD and DDD methodologies.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to learn more about demand for competences is crucial for revealing the complex relationship between employee selection, different strands of education and training and labor market regulation.Design/methodology/approach– Content analysis and statistics of job advertisements.Findings– Employer skills requirements even for low- and medium-skilled jobs are highly specific. Formal education requirements are higher than they “should” be. No detectable “basic package” of general cognitive skills for low- and medium-skilled jobs was found. Employer demand focusses on non-cognitive skills and specific cognitive skills. Specificity of skill requirement across different sectors or occupation groups differs vastly between different types of low- and medium-skilled jobs and is linked to the interactive nature of the job, not to the qualifications or the experience required.Research limitations/implications– The analysis can be considered an initial feasibility test for a larger comparative cross-country project that would aim to understand labor demand in different EU countries.Practical implications– The analysis could be used as input in designing labor market policy and life-long learning programs to integrate low-skilled and unemployed.Social implications– The research provides a tool to match disadvantaged workers to jobs for which they possess greater capabilities or to help them develop crucial skills for a given occupation.Originality/value– This paper contributes to the HRM literature with a more demand-led approach to labor market policy. The authors reveal what role skills and upskilling can play in alleviating the problem of unemployment. The results can be useful for HR specialists and policy makers.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of employers as “institutional” factors in the creation of segmentation in the labour market. Industrial structure defines segments of the labour market (the employer) based on the nature of demand, and with the impact on the individual workers or groups based on their personal characteristics.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical work is within the Dublin labour market, which experienced the largest increase in availability of migrant workers under immigration policies of the Celtic Tiger state. Focused on the sectors of catering, cleaning and security as low‐skilled service sector providers, the analysis is based on 24 semi‐structured interviews with employers selected based on a database of a cross‐section of all employers in the selected sectors in Dublin.FindingsSemi‐structured interviews reinforce state policies as key institutional factor underlying migrant labour trends and experiences, but perspectives of the employers in low‐end service industries reveal additional insights. In addition to using migrant labour as a means of cost cutting, the daily actions of employers reveal cultural stereotyping of workers, making them an elemental component “exploiting” the trends facilitated by state immigration policies.Originality/valueAlthough a large body of research on migration into Ireland during the Celtic Tiger years is available, little of it has focused on labour market processes. More broadly, in attempting to understand labour market processes and the creation of segmentation there needs to be a triangulation of processes of supply, demand and state policies; and employers are key players in shaping demand and exploiting supply trends.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the implications for HRM of employers' use of migrants in low‐skilled work in a UK‐based firm. Is the use of migrant workers for low skilled work associated with “soft” or “hard” approaches to HRM? How do employers recruit migrant workers? What career progression paths are available to these workers in firms? What are the expectations and aspirations of migrant workers?Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines these issues through a case study of a UK‐based employer using large numbers of migrant workers. The paper draws on data from a survey of migrant workers in the firm conducted in 2006, and from interviews with managers and migrant workers within this firm, conducted between 2005 and 2006.FindingsThe paper highlights the “hard” HRM strategy pursued by the company in order to maintain a competitive advantage based on low labour costs and substitutability of workers. A contradiction is noted between the desire of the firm to retain migrant workers with a strong work ethic and gain high commitment, on the one hand, and their continued attempt to compete on the basis on minimal labour costs and follow a “hard” approach to HRM, on the other.Practical implicationsThe paper points to the importance of analysis of employers' use of migrants and the strategies they are adopting towards using these workers. Developing an understanding of these strategies is critical to understanding the social and economic experiences of migrant workers.Originality/valueThe paper combines qualitative and quantitative research through an intensive case study to illuminate the implications for HRM of employers' use of migrants in low‐skilled jobs.

Beatrice Bray relates her battle to regain the life, loves and career she lost when she became ill. She has, she says, finally managed to get the medical care she has always known she needed. Now she wants help to get back into work, and to overcome the stigma that traps her, a qualified journalist, in low skilled occupations.

This special issue of the International Journal of Manpower aims to make a contribution to broadening our limited understanding of the role and impact of employer‐provided training for low‐skilled service sector workers. It brings together seven of the papers that were presented at the international conference “Adapting Education and Training for the Enhancement of Low‐Skilled Jobs” held at Helsinki in May 2002. The papers are situated at the crossroads where three different strands of research and policymaking meet: the training of the low skilled, the system of vocational training and the role of training for the service sector. The contributions cover an interesting variety of European countries: Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Spain and the UK, with diverging levels of low‐skilled (un)employment, vocational training and service‐sector employment.

This paper presents a model with flexible wages in which unemployment of low‐skilled labor is possible in equilibrium, whereas high‐skilled workers are fully employed. Thus, the model can explain why even in countries with flexible labor markets and full employment of skilled labor an employment problem exists at the bottom of the skill spectrum. The model is used to evaluate the impact of technological change and increased skill supply on the employment of low‐skilled workers. It is shown that a switch to technologies with higher skill requirements unambiguously leads to a rise in unemployment of low‐skilled workers. An increase in the supply of high‐skilled labor has a positive effect on the employment level of low‐skilled labor.