Sojourners, Not Settlers: Temporary Labor Migration Since the Nineteenth Century

Systems of labor mobility across borders in which states assign a fixed duration to workers’ sojourn—temporary labor migration schemes (TLMSs)—have enabled employers to recruit workers while claiming to avoid the presumed negative consequences of settlement and integration. While existing explanations of TLMSs focus primarily on structural determinants, this article introduces a cumulative contextual model. It begins with a political-economic analysis of labor migration and addresses its gaps by adding an analysis of the ideological legitimations of TLMSs, as well as a consideration of the complex of rules and organizations that implement and regulate state-managed temporary migration. Building on this approach, I propose a typology of TLMSs according to dominant actors, rules that govern the labor relationship, and the gap between discourse about the goals of TLMSs and outcomes. The analysis has implications for immigration and citizenship regimes, for their assumptions of permanence, and for the nature of work.