Employers' preferences for migrant employment and informal employment

The F2F sectors in Europe have become increasingly reliant on migrant labour. At the same time, agriculture and other low-paid, low-skilled sectors are characterised by higher levels of informality than the economy as a whole. In DignityFIRM, we aimed to investigate employers’ strategies regarding recruitment and hiring, and whether their decisions to employ migrants and to engage in informal employment may be interdependent. To this end, we conducted a survey of more than 1,200 small and medium-sized firms (up to 49 employees) in three F2F sectors: agriculture, food processing, and bars and  restaurants. The survey was carried out in spring 2024 in four countries: Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain, and was followed in each country by focus group interviews with sectoral stakeholders from the business community, public administration, trade unions and migrant organisations. In this Policy Brief, we use the available statistics and the original findings of our study to examine the scale of migrant formal and informal employment, as well as employers’ motivations underlying their hiring decisions. This policy brief and its recommendations are primarily addressed to the decision-making bodies of the European Union, as well as to national governing bodies.