The underlying mechanisms of the recognition processes of skilled migrants’ professional qualifications in the European Union

Skilled immigration has been playing an increasingly central role in the European policies. One of the purposes is to solve the shortage of skilled human resources as well as cope with the demographic challenges. However, several observations in the European context, including third country nationals and individuals born in Eastern Europe, continue to signal obstacles in the recognition of professional qualifications and skills of migrant workers, their underutilization in the labour market and the existence of wage differentials. The professional qualifications and skills attained by migrants, in the country of origin, are simultaneously an element of economic empowerment and distinction. Their formal and informal recognition, or non-recognition, can influence the results obtained not only in accessing the labour market, but also within the market itself. In this sense, recognition, acts as a mechanism that guides immigrants to the different segments of the labour market. In this research we focus on the Portuguese case, since scarcer scientific attention has been given to skilled migrants from peripheral pre-enlargement countries. Recently conducted studies about Portuguese skilled emigrants, particularly on nursing professionals, suggest disparities in status and wages when compared to natives. How to explain these differences? What are the underlying factors and mechanisms? How do they interact? What’s the degree of influence of institutional, organizational and social contexts? To answer these questions we adopt an interdisciplinary and a multilevel approach, thus contributing to highlight the articulations of the various factors and mechanisms that produce inequality, between migrants and natives, in the labour market.