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The main finding suggests that the Finnish migrant legal status regime turnsmigrants into a category of worker that can and is often excluded from the protections and privileges of the egalitarian Finnish labour market and welfare system. Migrants are differentially, unequally, and unfavourably integrated in thelabour market as a working underclass. Subordination happens at two levels. Firstly, migrants are subordinated by the profile of jobs and occupations they tend toconcentrate in, which happen to be socially subordinate. Secondly, the migrants themselves are subordinated so that their labour market competences are undervalued or not valued at all. Additionally, any job or occupation they go intobecomes subordinate, as well. The labour market experiences of migrant nurses, trained in Finland‚ illustrates this point perfectly, while developments in other sectors, such as IT, also show significant similarities.

Halting or remedying the apparent labour market segmentation, and the subordination of highly educated and skilled migrants, is highly unlikely and perhaps impossible. This is because the jobs the migrants do, though socially subordinate,are essential to the functioning of the Finnish social welfare state. To fulfil its egalitarian promises to its Finnish citizens and residents, Finland needs geriatric care workers, public transport drivers, and cleaners for public facilities. Many Finns can leveragetheir social citizenship rights to refuse these jobs â€“&²Ô²ú²õ±è;highly educated migrants, legally rendered socio-economically vulnerable, cannot.

As the global world of work continues to unravel, subject to international migration, the digital transition, green transition, and proliferating non-standard work forms, Finland ought to review how it uses its human resources. Findings of this researchsuggest a need to rethink Finland’s migration objectives, the justness of those objectives, and evaluate the changes required for the existing migration structures. 

M.Soc.Sc. Quivine Ndomo defends 26.1.2024 at 12.00 at Historica Building H320 her doctoral dissertation in Social and Public Policy "The Working Underclass: Highly educated migrants on the fringes of the Finnish labour market". The opponent is Professor Robert MacKenzie, Karlstad Business School, and the Custos is Professor Nathan Lillie, Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥. 

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Contacts: Quivine Ndomo, quivine.a.ndomo@jyu.fi, phone: +358406603265

Bio: Quivine takes a social justice standpoint to her research and teaching. She uses theories of citizenship, disaggregated agency, and labour market segmentation, as well as biographical research methods. Quivine Ndomo’s research was partly implemented under the rubrics of the  and a fellowship from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥.