Illuminating the shadows of skilled migration: Highly qualified immigrants from Latin America in Spain

Abstract

This paper analyses the labour incorporation of skilled Latin American immigrant workers into Spain. It is based on in-depth interviews with 24 Latin American immigrants and it explores reasons for migration into Spain, showing that the interviewees migrated for a great variety of reasons, not necessarily for work. Subsequently, the paper analyses the interviewees’ labour incorporation in Spain and defines three paths into skilled work in Spain. In two of the three paths, on first arrival in Spain, a mismatch was observed between education and labour market outcomes. For some, migration even represented a break in their career, implying occasionally a temporary de-skilling process. For this reason, an extended university–work transition was sometimes observed, in order to secure skilled jobs in Spain. Theoretically, human capital hardly explains this migration since it is not associated with upward career movement, although wages might be higher than in the countries of origin.