Doing Family Across Borders: A Comparative Study of Work, Family and Welfare Strategies among Polish Migrants in Norway, Sweden, and the UK.

Both Norway, Sweden and the UK have received a significant number of Polish workers after the enlargement of the EU in 2004. As of today, the Poles represent the largest migrant group in Norway and the UK, while they represent the third largest group in Sweden. This project has sought to answer the following question: how transnational family considerations, combined with labour market conjuncture and migrants' rights to welfare provision in the host country, shape migrant workers' relation to work and welfare? In order to answer this, a major survey was conducted among Polish migrants in Norway, Sweden and the UK in the spring of 2017. We received more than 5000 answers. We have also conducted about 50 qualitative interviews with a selection of poles in the three countries. Our findings from the survey data show that only in the Scandinavian countries, and not in the UK, is there a significant relationship between labor market affiliation and family reunification. We explain this by the characteristics of the labor market in the UK in the period 20004-2016 which represented many opportunities within, for example, the service industry for accompanying or reunited partners. In other words, it is less central in the United Kingdom that the spouse, usually the husband, is working at the time of reunification than in the other contexts. Furthermore, it appears in our qualitative data material that Brexit has, to a large extent, affected Polish migrants' relation to work welfare. Working appears to be the key to be able to remain in the UK after Brexit, while migrants' narratives of the use and non-use of welfare benefits largely reflect dominant discourses in politics and the media, that is to say those central to the Brexit vote in 2016. We also find a wide range of placements and positioning strategies in the labor market among Polish migrants with higher education in the three countries. These must be seen in light of a variety of individual and contextual factors such as past and acquired experiences, education, social networks, personal aspirations, family situations, migration policy, as well as actual labor market needs. At the same time, some patterns are visible across the individual narratives and national contexts, such as the experience of the Polish identity as both an opportunity and an obstacle to the construction and legitimacy of their own position in the labor market, as well as different forms of status paradoxes where downward intragenerational social mobility not necessarily is experienced as something negative. That is for instance the case for some transnational fathers for whom being the male breadwinner seems more important than an integration on the laboyr market that reflect formal education and/or previous statuses. The project's website: http://famac-project.com/

The project has contributed to increased interdisciplinary research and international collaboration, and it has contributed to the research field by shedding light on the role of family reunification regarding labor market integration, which is very little visible in the existing literature. Furthermore, the project has aimed at generating practical knowledge on the studied topic that can be used for policy formulation. One of the core researcher in the project has been advising the Government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in the UK on any likely post-Brexit return migration of the EU workforce. We believe that our focus on the British context will benefit both political and academic debates also during the post-Brexit phase. Finally, regarding the society as a whole we believe our research as contributed to a more nuanced picture of Polish migrants in the three countries.

This project seeks to answer the main research question: how transnational family considerations, combined with labour market conjuncture and migrants' rights to welfare provision in the host country, shape migrant workers' relation to work and welfare? In order to answer this research question from a comparative perspective the project will focus on two groups of Polish migrant workers, living alone or reunited with the family in the host country, in three different welfare and labour market contexts (Norway, Sweden and the UK). The study will explain why some migrant workers fare relatively better at the host country's labour market, while others are more prone to rely on social welfare provision. The project will in particular look at migrants' actual and planned use of welfare provision, tax-reduction strategies, and their plans regarding family reunification, re-emigration or eventual retirement in the host country. The project will use mixed methods. At the beginning, data from available databases will be analysed (WP1). Further, a tailor-made online survey tool will be used to generate data missing in existing databases (WP2). The respondents will be recruited onboard international flights between Poland, Norway, Sweden, and the UK. Finally, the quantitative analyses will be complemented by qualitative analyses of semi-structured interviews with Polish migrant workers collected in Norway, Sweden, and the UK (WP3). A smooth implementation of the project will be ensured by including four overseas research grants between the Project Owner and the two international partners in Sweden and the UK. Apart from its high scientific value, the project will have an explicit practical value for Norwegian and international stakeholders dealing with the issues concerned in this study. Knowledge produced by the project can be used for policy formulation by relevant national organizations, including ministries, tax authorities, labour and welfare organizations.