TY - JOUR T1 - The Adaptation Strategies of Highly Skilled Latvian Migrants: The Role of Pre-Migration Cultural Capital and Typical Pathways to Labour-Market Upper Positions JF - Central and Eastern European Migration Review Y1 - 2021 A1 - Šūpule, Inese KW - highly skilled migration KW - strategies of adaptation KW - transferability of human capital AB -

This article analyses the strategies of adaptation used by highly skilled Latvian migrants to make the best of their situation abroad. As empirical data, 26 semi-structured in-depth interviews with highly skilled Latvian nationals in finances, management, IT and the health sector are analysed. The study reveals how migrants negotiate the value of their cultural capital in the new country’s labour market. Different adaptation strategies are typical for the pre-migration phase, the phase of transition and initial settlement and of establishment in the host country. The main conclusion of the study is that pre-migration cultural capital (education, work experience, language knowledge and general and specific skills) is important but not sufficient to be successful in new country’s labour market – in the UK, Germany, Norway and the USA. The labour-market outcomes are a result of the interplay between migrants’ individual resources and decisions on extensive investments in country-specific human capital and structural constraints – such as typical recruitment patterns in a particular occupation and host country.

 

VL - 10 CP - 2 EP -

129

U2 -

29 November 2020

U3 -

8 October 2021

U4 -

15 November 2021

SP - 111 ER -