IOM's ARGO 2006 project: Combating Illegal Employment of Foreigners in the Enlarged EU

Project Manager for the CEFMR part: Marek Kupiszewski

This project aims to contribute to the EU States' combat against irregular migration and irregular employment of migrants. The project will promote policies and schemes that support legal economic migration as the best alternative for both migrants and the EU and its Member States and as one of the important components of their sustained economic competitiveness.

The project will:

1. seek to better understand the various aspects of irregular employment of foreigners in the selected countries;
2. increase the knowledge and awareness among government officials, civil society, NGOs, employers associations, trade unions and other relevant actors on the irregular employment of foreigners;
3. evaluate the practices and the efficiency of preventive, protective, punitive or other measures targeting illegal employment of foreigners;
4. identify best practices and recommended policy measures to address the irregular employment of foreigners;
5. facilitate sharing of expertise and exchange of ideas through networking and dialogue among involved stakeholders in the participating countries.

National researchers will carry out a study on irregular employment of foreigners and measures taken against it in each of the participating states. The research will include a comprehensive analysis of both the labour market characteristics (e.g. the share of undeclared work within the labour market and foreigners therein, sectors that employ foreigners irregularly, societal acceptance of undeclared work etc.) and of the measures intended to prevent and combat the phenomenon (e.g. labour legislation including employers' sanctions and enforcement procedures). Moreover, the research will build on the studies and analyses already undertaken by other international agencies, such as OECD, ILO and others, as well as on the existing national studies on the phenomenon in the selected countries.

The research will be followed by a two-day conference that will focus on effective measures (best practices) in the three areas of: (i) prevention of irregular employment of foreigners, (ii) the protection of workers against exploitation and (iii) punitive measures against intermediary agencies and recruiters of irregular workers. The Conference will bring together experts and policy makers to share information and experience, and will aim at creating a network of contacts that would in the future facilitate transnational dialogue and cooperation in the field of irregular employment of foreigners and related issues.

The results of both the country studies and the Conference will be integrated into a final Publication, which is aimed to serve as a state-of-the-art reference source and tool for the European Commission and EU Member States and to support their policymaking and practical actions in the area of combating irregular employment of foreigners.

The project involves both old and new EU Member States: Belgium, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Romania and Spain. Our research will focus on both intra-EU movements i.e. from the 'new' EU Member States (which remain subject to transition periods in most of the 'old' Member States) and from the EU candidate countries and third countries, into the EU.

The project is managed by the IOM regional office in Budapest, with the support of the IOM offices in the participating countries and in coordination with the Research Coordinator. Marek Kupiszewski and the CEFMR team as the Research Coordinator, are responsible for ensuring the coherence and comparativeness of national reports and will draft the final synthesis report.