Labour immigration and the joint demands of social and global justice

Large-scale labour mobility is widely thought to result in well-being gains, especially for the global poor. In receiving societies, however, it raises concerns about the economic and political viability of the welfare state, and the prospects of native workers. A wide-spread, but controversial, solution to the tension is the idea of differential socio-economic rights for immigrant workers, in particular, restricted access to the welfare state. This research aims to answer the questions: How should states respond to the joint demands of social and global justice in their labour immigration policies? Is socio-economic rights differentiation between native and immigrant workers normatively justifiable in liberal democratic states, and within the EU in particular? The research applies the conceptual and normative methods of analytic political philosophy.

Keywords:labour immigration

Disciplines:Ethics, Other philosophy, ethics and religious studies not elsewhere classified, Theory and methodology of philosophy, Philosophy