Dead Men Working: Time and Space in London's ('Illegal') Migrant Economy

Abstract

This article explores human smuggling's consequences through a study of London's Pakistani immigrant economy, paying particular attention to the labour process and its experiential dimensions. The latter are unpacked in empirical context with due reference to literatures on illegal migration, as well as more recent writings on employment and 'precariousness' that seek to make sense of the changing nature of work patterns under post-Fordist 'flexible' regimes in the new global economy. All newly migrated (and some British born) Pakistanis working in ethnic economies endure long hours, poor working conditions, low pay and a general context of insecurity that is distinct from the unionized labour process that prevailed under Fordism. Smuggled migrants tend to deal with a specific set of constraints, however, including added material and psychological burdens stemming from the higher cost of migration and an inability to achieve 'structural' embeddedness.