Inmigración y mercado de trabajo en EspañaLos trabajadores marroquíes procedentes de la industria exportadora

Abstract

The arrival of the new century meant that Spain quickly became one of the main countries receiving non-forced international immigration, reaching a foreign population of about six million inhabitants in 2010. Among the various regions from where immigrants in Spain were from, Morocco stands out as the first non-EU country in terms of number of residents (INE, 2015). The doctoral thesis, entitled “Immigration and labour market in Spain: Moroccan Workers from the Export Industry”, focuses its scientific interest on a specific profile of these immigrants. It analyzes the labour and migratory trajectory of those Moroccans in Spain who, before their external migration process, have worked in the export industry in their country of origin. These subjects have been called TMPIE, acronym that stands for “Moroccan Workers from the Export Industry” (in Spanish). The first theoretical block shows a sample of the main theories on international labour migration, the labour market of the immigrant population and the process of globalization. It consists of two chapters. The first one presents various theories about the causes of labour migration, the maintenance of migration, the socio-labour integration of immigrants and return migration. The second chapter addresses an evolution of international migration flows in the era of globalization, focusing mainly on the processes occurring around the most recent phase. It also examines some theoretical perspectives on the processes of industrial relocation (labour context in Morocco, from where our study subjects emigrate) and an evolution of international migrations in the modern history of Spain. The second block, constituted by the third chapter, is in charge of developing all those methodological questions of the investigation, from the design and the obtaining of data until its analytical process is completed. Specifically, the doctoral work has opted for a strategy of methodological integration involving both qualitative (in-depth interviews) and quantitative methods (secondary data, especially the 2007 National Immigrant Survey). The methodology of analysis used has been the Grounded Theory. The third block, which includes the fourth chapter, starts from the idea that, if it is intended to examine the socio-labour behaviour of the subjects residing in the destination society, previously, the scenery where the migratory decision was made must be included and properly understood. For this reason, a study on the export industry in the Alawite country, which is part of an industrial relocation process, has been developed. Finally, the fourth block, which consists of the four final chapters, displays the results of the research. It pays special attention to the context of economic recession in Spain, which has particularly affected the labour and migratory trajectory of the immigrant population, including that from Morocco. Chapter 5 presents a description of the main socio-demographic and migratory characteristics of the TMPIE, both in the country of origin and during their stay in Spain. Chapter 6 inquires into labour mobility in the Spanish labour market and the strategies that unemployed TMPIE develop in search of employment. Chapter 7 examines the evolution of the working conditions of the TMPIE, from the moment they arrive to Spain, to the current context of socioeconomic crisis. Finally, chapter 8 examines the emergence of new migratory projects in response to the labour effects that the crisis is assuming in the TMPIE, as well as providing a narration of the labour scenario of those who have decided to return to Morocco Keywords: Moroccan Immigration, Labour market, Export industry, Industrial relocation, Labour immigration, Employability, Labour mobility, Work conditions, Economic Crisis, Spain, Morocco.