When the World Goes Rural: Transnational Potentials of International Migration in Rural Swedish Labour Markets

Abstract

International migration processes are of increasing importance to changing ruralities in high-income countries. They offer the chance to connect rural areas to the world through direct links of transnational networks, and they have the potential for dynamic change. Through migration, important fields of social, economic and institutional transnational networks directly intersect with local areas. Accordingly, not only the demographic structure but also qualitative aspects of the countryside can be influenced by international migration. This chapter investigates the transnational effects of international migration on local labour markets in rural Sweden, analysing the transnational networks and transnational potential of international migrants in the labour market, based on interviews with three different groups of actors: local authorities, local firms and migrant entrepreneurs. Accordingly, the chapter analyses rural areas as connected by transnational linkages of international labour, which ties rural areas to other international localities in a process of global upscaling of rural space.