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West and East Europeans have been important components of the migration flows into the UK in the last decade, but they remain largely under-studied. This paper utilises 12 quarters of the Labour Force Survey for the years 2002–2013 to examine patterns of over-qualification and their impact on those migrants' earnings. The findings show a clear and greater penalty for East Europeans. They were more likely than the majority White-British and West European migrants to be substantially over-qualified and have earned the lowest pay premium on their excess education. The East European migrants' double penalty is explained by their over-concentration in the secondary labour market where discrimination by employers, exploitation and lower rewards are common practices. Contrary to this, West European migrants enjoy a much better labour market position as they are able to successfully negotiate access to its primary sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how post-2004 Polish immigrants in Great Britain narrate success and failure in their lives. It identifies and analyses inter-related narrations specific to the transnational form of migration. It considers migrants' transnational orientation as a resource for narratively producing a successful biography. The article makes use of a biographical perspective and embeds the analysis in theories of biographical action, while adding new knowledge to the scholarship of migration. It argues that failure is relative to a normatively, locally fixed expectation of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the implications for recruitment and retention in the hospitality industry as a result of the increasing involvement of Polish migrants in the workforce. The research draws on primary data collected using netnography, a modern version of ethnography, from a sample of Polish migrant workers. The merits and difficulties of using this technique are explored and the rationale for the use of netnography as an appropriate research method is outlined. A number of findings are discussed relating to job choice, methods of job sceking, English language issues, and status of the sector. Initial findings indicate it is common for Poles to find their first job in the UK in the hospitality sector due to low entry barriers, ease of access, the lack of required specific skills, high staff turnover, and demand for seasonal workers. There is also a common trend in perceiving the sector as a transient one. In light of these findings the implications for the recruitment and retention of migrant workers are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrant workers constitute a vital component of many Western labour markets. Although migrants can benefit greatly by moving to higher-wage economies, it is important to compare their labour-market outcomes with those of native-born workers. In this paper, we discuss factors that have been found to influence labour-market success in the receiving country and examine the actual performance of recent migrants to the UK. The UK provides a good case study for conducting such an exercise because of the very large increases in immigration that have been seen over the past decade. We find that labour-market performance varies greatly between migrant groups and that outcomes have changed noticeably following the UK government's decision to allow migrants from Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries more or less free access to the labour market after EU enlargement in 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]