Employment as an integrative aspect of Ukrainian economic migration: limits, barriers and challenges in Czech context

Abstract

The article is devoted to one of the main aspects of integration of foreign migrants, namely employment. The target segment is the Ukrainian community. The contribution is based on the theory of market segmentation, which is used to assess the structure of the Czech labor market. The analysis is carried out on three interrelated levels. The growth of the Ukrainian population in the Czech Republic, irregular practices in the field of residence and employment regimes, and the experience of Ukrainians with settling in the Czech Republic. The most common phenomena include the so-called client system, employment under a trade license within the so-called black market system, and illegal labor activities, as well as related synergistic effects (labor exploitation, human trafficking and illegal employment, abuse of office, asylum procedure) blocks adequate economic, social and community integration and increases the risk of segregation at the place of residence. It has been established that the full integration of foreigners is mainly hindered by their employment in the labor market, due to a number of persistent negative trends. One of them is illegal employment, as well as the abuse of the institution of secondment of workers in the form of secondment of Ukrainians by foreign employers to companies that send these workers to work for other business entities. This leads to a chain bailout aimed at concealing the performance of dependent work by foreigners for employers in the Czech Republic. Equally important is the way of concealing employment agency in the form of misuse of an employment agency, when instead of proper employment of individuals, a business relationship is established with the purpose of temporarily entrusting them to the user.