Informality and the context of reception in South Africa's new immigrant destinations
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Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Abstract
This study examines the context of reception for Zimbabwean migrants who are
engaged in South Africa's informal economy. It seeks to contribute to two areas of
migration scholarship: (a) the emergence of new immigrant destinations in the global
South and (b) the role of the informal economy in shaping the context of reception
for migrants in new gateway cities. Through surveys of Zimbabwean day labourers in
Tshwane (formerly Pretoria), we document the poverty and the food and housing
insecurity these migrants and their dependents endure resulting from
underemployment in the informal economy. The analysis presented here suggests that
although it has received little attention from migration scholars, the informal economy
can play a significant role in shaping the context of reception for immigrants in the new
gateway cities of the global South. In many destination countries, the informal economy
absorbs large numbers of migrants, making it an important, if flawed, source of
employment, earnings, and remittances. With increasing levels of migration to major
cities, the informal economy has become a key arena of migrant incorporation, with
far‐reaching implications for lives and livelihoods.
Description
Keywords
Day labour, Immigration gateways, Informal economy, Livelihood strategies, Migrant workers, Undocumented immigration
Citation
Theodore, N. et al. (2017). Informality and the context of reception in South Africa’s new immigrant diestinations. Population, Space & Place: e2119