The Latent Precariousness of Migrant Workers: a Study of Ukrainians Legally Employed in Poland

Abstract

The global rise in migration has captured academic attention and spurred discussions around migrants—their living and working conditions, status, relations with the host community, future plans, etc. A significant stream of research explores migrants’ problems using the concept of precariousness. However, such research often becomes complicated as arrivals do not fit the frame of precariousness characterising the host society. Migrants encounter numerous problems, such as access to benefits and pensions, minimal wages, work permits or security and safety, but they do not complain or assess their personal situation as precarious. Based on fifteen in-depth interviews with Ukrainians working in Poland, this paper presents and discusses the problem of latent precariousness as a challenge to such qualitative methods as the in-depth interview. Social comparison theory has been used to explain critical problems related to the extent of precariousness among migrants.