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This chapter provides a general overview of the Migration-Mobility Nexus in Switzerland. Today’s patterns of migration move on a continuum from long-term and permanent to increasingly temporary and fluid. Based on data from the Migration-Mobility Survey and on theoretical and political considerations, it aims at providing a general empirical overview of the migration flows towards Switzerland. First and on a theoretical level, the two paradigmatic lenses of migration research and mobility studies are presented. Second, the transformation of European migration regimes since the 1970s and its effect on the patterns of migration and mobility are discussed. Third, we show how Switzerland, being part of the European Migration Regime in transformation, can be used as a laboratory to understand the changes in and of an advanced post-industrial society. To this end, we provide a short empirical overview of the immigrant population and their living conditions in the country. Fourth, the chapter provides a set of analytical questions that will be addressed throughout this volume – by means of the Migration-Mobility Survey data – and discussed in the concluding chapter.

The increasing need for information on immigrants can scarcely be satisfied by traditional population surveys or censuses. Only migrant-specific surveys allow for the integration of migrant-specific topics. However, when organizing a survey targeting immigrants, challenges concerning the survey setup are even more accentuated compared to traditional surveys. After a short introduction, this chapter first reviews the literature on survey methodology when targeting migrant populations. Second, it provides an overview of how specific migrant surveys, which have been undertaken in Europe since the year 2000, have addressed different challenges. Third, and considering the first two chapters, it reviews the implementation of the Migration-Mobility Survey by presenting the target population, the sampling procedure, the survey design and the data collection process and response rates. The chapter closes with a short overview of the main socio-demographic characteristics of the participants, thus serving as a basis for the following chapters of this book, and a short preview of the planned second wave of the Migration-Mobility Survey.

Research on migration usually focusses on the role of states in defining the “wanted” migrants who receive facilitated access to specific national territories. However, many countries apply a demand-driven admission policy in which employers play a central role in selecting candidates for migration. This article investigates the role of employers in the Migration-Mobility Nexus by analysing the relocation support they provide to different groups of migrants. We use a mixed-method approach based on a qualitative analysis of ethnographic data and a quantitative analysis of the Migration-Mobility Survey to observe who has more power to negotiate advantageous relocation conditions and in this sense represents a more “wanted” migrant for profit-oriented actors. Via a logistic regression model, we show that, all other variables being equal, employers tend to favour highly qualified men from Anglo-Saxon countries, whereas non-single women and people of West African and Portuguese origins have a much lower probability of receiving support from their employer. This article adds to the literature on the construction of migrant categories by showing that highly qualified men from rich Anglo-Saxon countries are actively given the possibility to become “expats”, whereas people with similar levels of qualification and experience but with a different gender, nationality or background have fewer opportunities to access employers’ support and migrate. In this sense, the very notion of “expat” is a construction that reflects power relations at a global level.

Previous research has deepened our understanding of the reasons that both push and pull individuals to leave a place to settle in a new country. However, little is known about individuals who have undertaken multiple international migrations. Based on the Migration-Mobility Survey data, this chapter explores both the migration trajectories and why frequent international movers have arrived in Switzerland. The chapter provides new insights about serial migrants in the European context and contributes to the literature by disentangling the relationships between multiple migrations and individual levels of qualification, origin, family composition, and aspirations to undertake a further migration. This research shows a strong association between level of education and degree of multiple migrations. It also demonstrates an important heterogeneity in migration practices between origins that can be explained not only by individual factors but also by institutional dimensions. In particular, short geographical and cultural distances contribute to reducing the number of international movements. Furthermore, non-EU migrants tend to be particularly mobile and to undertake stepwise trajectories to Switzerland.

This chapter aims at measuring the extent to which the subjective reasons of immigration impact on the level and the pace of structural integration, defined as the participation in the labour market. The analysis not only considers primary migrants but also accompanying spouses and distinguishes between migrants regarding their country of origin and level of education. Based on the Migration-Mobility Survey data, the author uses not only descriptive statistics but also logistic regressions models to better understand the determinants of integration. Results show that migrants consider themselves relatively well integrated in the labour market: in particular, three-quarters of the men and almost two-thirds of the women declare an improvement in their work conditions compared to the situation before the move, their unemployment rate is low, fewer than 20% of migrants do short-term work or work without a contract, and approximately 60% use their skills at work. However, one can observe differences in the level of integration according to the reason for migration. Not only family migrants but also migrants who arrived in Switzerland for other reasons present a lower probability of job satisfaction and a higher risk of underuse of skills compared with those arriving with a work contract. Results also show a gender gap, men being better integrated than women whatever the indicator that is used.

This chapter analyses immigrants’ labour market trajectory throughout their settlement in Switzerland considering their employment situation in the country of origin and the characteristics of the family migration process. The investigation is particularly interested in analysing whether the observed inequalities by origin in the labour market integration result from differences in terms of human capital among immigrants. However, labour disadvantages existing and persisting over time for some immigrant groups, regardless of their human capital characteristics and their level of assimilation in Switzerland, would confirm segmentation and discrimination postulates. Analysis revealed lower employment probabilities for some groups of immigrants immediately after moving to Switzerland once human capital differentials are controlled for. However, results are also consistent with the assimilation hypothesis because the analysis points to an overall improvement in immigrants’ probability of being employed during the process of settlement in Switzerland. Nevertheless, significant differences have emerged by gender. In comparison with men, women are more likely to be unemployed, to be inactive or to work part-time. Finally, results corroborate that post-migration employment is lower for tied migrants and family-motivated migrants. Moreover, family-motivated migration has only temporary effects on labour insertion of male migrants, whereas it harms employment prospects for women more permanently.

There is evidence that immigrants experience difficulties in finding a job that matches their human capital endowment upon arrival in the host country. Based on data from the Migration-Mobility Survey 2016, our empirical analysis has two goals. First, it measures the incidence of educational and skills mismatches among different groups of recent immigrants according to their origin and status of foreign credential recognition. Second, it investigates whether the recognition of foreign qualification improves access to the labour market by reducing the risk of being mismatched in education or skills. Results show that recent migrants face the lowest risk of educational and skills mismatches when holding a Swiss diploma or having obtained recognition of foreign credentials. Although our analytical approach does not allow us to identify causal relationships, credential recognition seems to play a beneficial role in the immigrants’ assimilation process.

This contribution investigates how cantonal norms of inclusion or exclusion, as expressed by cantonal integration policies and attitudes towards immigrants (xenophobia and right-wing voting), affect immigrants’ national identity in terms of their feelings of attachment to Switzerland. This chapter complements the emerging body of research emphasizing the relevance of studies “beyond and below” national policy frameworks by studying how cantonal integration policy affects immigrants’ national identity, which is a vital – but thus far understudied – factor contributing to social cohesion. The analyses are based on different data sources: the Migration-Mobility Survey, a dataset on cantonal integration policies, and cantonal statistics, e.g., on direct democratic vote results on immigration-related topics or right-wing voting rates. The results of our multilevel analyses show that cantonal reception contexts matter, however not directly but rather as catalysts. In line with assimilation theory, non-citizens’ feelings of attachment to Switzerland increase with time spent in Switzerland. Inclusive cantonal reception contexts and liberal cantonal integration policies in particular amplify this positive effect of years of residence on immigrants’ national identification, except in the most restrictive cantonal reception contexts.

In this chapter, we seek to shed light on the mechanisms of perceived discrimination: Who, among recent immigrants, is more likely to feel discriminated against and report it when asked in a survey? Social scientists typically define discrimination as an observable and unjust difference in the treatment of distinct groups. To personally feel discriminated against, people must be aware of the differential treatment and perceive it as unjust. We show that reporting discrimination when asked in a survey depends substantially upon individual traits, including aspects that shape whether discrimination is and whether immigrants to the host society. Although respondents report less discrimination if their job situation has improved after migration, people more likely report discrimination when they originate from countries in which the national legislature represents ethnic minority groups relatively well. Earlier difficulties related to the migration process and the lack of supporting networks continue to affect the perception of unfair treatment. Moreover, we show that individuals distinguish to a surprising degree between discrimination in and outside the work environment. For instance, when they are proficient in the local language, respondents often report discrimination in the workplace but not in a public environment. This distinction between discrimination in the workplace and discrimination in public also depends strongly upon the immigrant’s origin. We conclude that contemporary individual-level measures and policy recommendations merely approximate discriminatory patterns; we urge future research to consider factors that affect individual of discrimination.

This chapter seeks to answer the question of how resource differentiation influences the forms and aims of migrant engagement, that is, the political participation of recent migrants in Switzerland. More-fluid patterns of mobility highlight the need to observe different approaches to residents’ civic engagement, which are not restricted to the practices of full citizens. We expand the outlook on what counts as a political activity by including acts such as participating in petitions, demonstrations and consumer boycotts. Although these activities are largely no longer considered unconventional, they are usually not considered in research on migrants’ political involvement. Based on an analysis of varied political activities open to any resident of the state, the paper delivers new insights into migrants’ engagement linked to different resources and forms of capital. Previous works have confirmed the influence education provides on political participation of migrant and ethnic minorities. Our results show that higher level of education increases the chances of acting in non-conventional activities, but does not play a role for acting in the representative political sphere. It is rather the time spent in Switzerland and local language skills which matter most for acting in political organizations. By adding migration-specific factors, this paper makes a further contribution to debates on what counts as a political resource. Experiences of international mobility provide the necessary social esteem for migrants to act in non-regulated activities which allow for individualized and direct forms of expression. New, selective and temporary mobility therefore broaden political action repertoires.