Martin Ruhs

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at University of Oxford

Strong claims have been made about the incompatibility between large-scale migration and advanced welfare states. The free movement of workers within the European Union (EU) offers an interesting case for the study of the fiscal effects of unrestricted labor migration in different types of welfare states This article therefore investigates the alle...

How ‘free’ is the free movement of persons? Why does the law that enables it need to be ‘revisited’? This collection of essays, curated by Claire Kilpatrick and Joanne Scott for the European University Institute’s 2020 Academy of European Law summer course, addresses these questions. Across different examples—migration, posted workers, social secur...

How ‘free’ is the free movement of persons? Why does the law that enables it need to be ‘revisited’? This collection of essays, curated by Claire Kilpatrick and Joanne Scott for the European University Institute’s 2020 Academy of European Law summer course, addresses these questions. Across different examples—migration, posted workers, social secur...

Political trust matters for citizens’ policy preferences but existing research has not fully understood how this effect depends on policy design. To advance this research area, we theorise that policy controls that limit or condition policy provision can function as safeguards against uncertainty, thereby compensating for a person’s lack of trust i...

What preferences do people have for cross‐country cooperation on irregular migration and refugee protection? While existing research improves our understanding of how voters react to large‐scale inflows of asylum seekers, like those experienced by European countries in 2015–2016, and the type of asylum seekers and policies preferred by European cit...

This article proposes a new approach to the political theory of migration: the ethics of migration policy dilemmas. The core of this new approach lies in identifying specific policy dilemmas of central relevance to policy makers and other stakeholders in the field, and then submitting these dilemmas to systematic theoretical analysis. We conceptual...

Temporary Labour Migration Programmes (TLMPs) are controversial because they are caught in a dilemma between global and domestic justice. From a global justice perspective, TLMPs expand opportunities for workers in poor countries to access labour markets of rich countries and they improve the situation of origin countries through remittances. From...

This paper discusses why and how public attitudes should matter in regulating asylum and refugee protection in rich democracies, with a focus on Europe. Taking a realistic approach, I argue that public views constitute a soft feasibility constraint on effective and sustainable policies towards asylum seekers and refugees, and that a failure to take...

Public attitudes towards the free movement of workers in the European Union vary substantially between countries and individuals. This paper adds to the small but growing research literature on this issue by analysing the role of national welfare institutions. We investigate the relationship between the degree of ‘institutional reciprocity’ in nati...

The Global Compacts on Migration (GCM) and Refugees (GCR) include policy recommendations that aim to increase opportunities for legal labour migration, improve protections for migrant workers, and provide refugees with ‘complementary pathways’ to enhanced protection via labour mobility. This paper explains why there are large gaps between these pol...

Based on the conceptual framework of the three-way relationships between research, public debates, and policy-making, this chapter identifies key insights and lessons that can be learnt from the diversity of national and international experiences discussed in the previous chapters. The chapter draws on the theoretical analyses and case studies to m...

International migration and integration are among the most important and controversial public policy issues of our time. The disconnect between migration policy debates and migration realities has prompted a quest for more ‘evidence-based’ debates and policy-making. This introductory chapter gives the background and explains the rationale, aims, an...

This paper analyses whether and how the fiscal effects of EU migrants vary across Euro-pean countries with different institutional regimes. In public debates on free movement, it is often claimed that different national institutions, especially welfare states and labour market regulations, lead to variations in the fiscal impacts of EU migrants acr...

I argue that we need to connect debates about the ‘free movement’ of EU citizens with discussions about EU member states’ ‘immigration policies’ toward people from outside Europe. This is exactly the opposite approach to the one traditionally taken and advocated by the European Commission and many other European policy-makers who have insisted on a...

The Member States of the European Union (EU) have been engaged in highly divisive debates about whether and how to reform the rules for the ‘free movement’ of EU workers and their access to national welfare states. While some countries have argued for new restrictions on EU workers’ access to welfare benefits, many others have opposed policy change...

The current rules for “free movement” in the European Union (EU) facilitate unrestricted intra-EU labour mobility and equal access to national welfare states for EU workers. The sustainability of this policy has recently been threatened by divisive debates between EU countries about the need to restrict welfare benefits for EU workers. This article...

When Romania and Bulgaria (the so-called A2 countries) joined the European Union in 2007, the United Kingdom imposed temporary restrictions on the employment and welfare entitlements of A2 citizens that lasted until January 1, 2014. This article analyzes the impact of the removal of these restrictions on the labor market outcomes and use of welfare...

On 1 May 2004, 10 new states — including the ‘A8’ countries in Central and Eastern Europe — joined the European Union (EU). This article explores the impact of EU enlargement on A8 workers who were already working in the UK before 1 May 2004 — legally or illegally. More specifically, the article analyses the impact of the change in the legal (immig...

The UN General Assembly decided in September 2016 that it would start negotiations leading to an international conference and the adoption of a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration in 2018. The agreement to move toward this comprehensive framework is a momentous one. It means that migration, like other areas of international relat...

The labour immigration policies of high-income countries are characterized by trade-offs between openness to admitting migrant workers and some of the rights granted to migrants after admission. This empirical observation lies at the heart of the author's 2013 book, The price of rights: Regulating international labor migration. In this article, he...

Resumen Las políticas de inmigración laboral de los países de altos ingresos establecen una relación inversa entre el grado de apertura y algunos de los derechos concedidos a los migrantes admitidos. Esta observación empírica es la base del libro The price of rights: Regulating international labor migration, que el autor de este artículo escribió e...

Résumé En matière de migrations de main‐d'œuvre, le nombre des travailleurs admis par un pays dépend souvent de l'étendue des droits qui leur sont octroyés. Cette constatation est au cœur de l'ouvrage publié par l'auteur en 2013 sous le titre The price of rights. Ici, celui‐ci revient sur ses principaux arguments et ses grandes conclusions, et il r...

This book is one of two volumes that examine the interface between human rights and migration and refugees. Part of a series produced for Ashgate's International Library of Essays on Rights, this book contains facsimile reproductions of articles that examine migrants as subjects of international law; the effect on rights of borders and territoriali...

The economist Milton Friedman was one of the first to argue that there is a fundamental tension between what he called "free immigration to jobs" and "free immigration to welfare" (Friedman 1978). The political scientist Gary Freeman made a similar point in his widely cited article on ‘Migration and the political economy of the welfare state’, whic...

The current rules for “free movement” in the European Union (EU) facilitate unrestricted intra-EU labour mobility and equal access to national welfare states for EU workers. Free movement is thus a case of “exceptionalism” in the view of longstanding theory and research which alleges the incompatibility between open borders and inclusive welfare st...

The independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) was created in 2007 after a decade in which the share of foreign-born workers in the British labour force doubled to 13 per cent. The initial core mandate of the MAC was to provide "independent, evidence-based advice to government on specific skilled occupations in the labour market where shortages...

Many low-income countries and development organizations are calling for greater liberalization of labor immigration policies in high-income countries. At the same time, human rights organizations and migrant rights advocates demand more equal rights for migrant workers. The Price of Rights shows why you cannot always have both. Examining labor imm...

Largely because of the European Union's two-phase expansion in 2004 and 2007, labor migration across the continent has changed significantly in recent years. Notably, the EU's policy of open borders has enabled a growing stream of workers to leave new member states in search of higher wages. As a result, the nature, scale, and direction of migratio...

This article addresses two questions: First, what explains the very low level of ratifications of the international legal instruments for the protection of the rights of migrant workers? Second, what are the implications for research and policy debates on the rights of migrant workers in practice? The author argues that the key reason for the under...

This article discusses employer demand for migrant labour. We argue that the UK's growing reliance on migrant workers cannot simply be explained by lax immigration controls or migrants' superior 'work ethic'. It arises from the complex interactions between institutions, public policies and social relations. A wide range of public policies have cont...

There is a large gap between the comprehensive set of rights of migrant workers ('migrant rights') stipulated in international human rights law and the much more limited rights granted by national laws and policies to many migrants working in high- and middle-income countries. To understand why, when and how nation-states restrict migrant workers’...

Comprehensive U.S. immigration reform proposals have three major elements: improved border and workplace controls, dealing with the 11 million unauthorized foreigners in the U.S., and managing “future flows” of foreign workers requested by U.S. employers. Improved controls and dealing with unauthorized foreigners were discussed extensively in the U...

This book discusses the demand for migrant labour both conceptually and empirically with a focus on the UK. With the number of migrant workers at a record high, the regulation of labour immigration is one of the most controversial public policy issues in high-income countries. A central question in these debates is how to link the admission of migr...

This chapter provides a comprehensive conceptual framework for evaluating employer demand for migrant labour in high-income countries. It discusses four key issues that, the chapter argues, are fundamental to the analysis of shortages, immigration, and public policy: (i) the characteristics, dimensions, and determinants of employer demand for labou...

My paper for this special issue (Ruhs, 2010), which builds on analysis in a previous paper with Phil Martin (Ruhs and Martin, 2008), suggests the hypothesis of a trade‐off (i.e. an inverse relationship) between the number and some of the socio‐economic rights of low‐skilled migrant workers admitted to high‐income countries. Ruhs (2010) discusses th...

This introduction to the Population, Space and Place Special Issue ‘Researching illegality and labour migration: the research/policy nexus’, considers what is meant by ‘illegal immigration’. This is of key importance to both policy and academic discussion, and contradictions and debates are evidenced in the terminology (‘illegal’, ‘irregular’, ‘und...

This paper explores the nature and determinants of illegality in migrant labour markets. It conceptualises the various legal ‘spaces of (il)legality’ in the employment of migrants, and explores the perceptions and functions of these spaces from the points of view of migrants, employers, and the state. Our theoretical approach goes beyond the notion...

This paper explores the impacts of the rights of migrant workers ('migrant rights') on the human development of actual and potential migrants, their families, and other people in migrants' countries of origin. A key feature of the paper is its consideration of how migrant rights affect both the capability to move and work in higher income countries...

This paper examines the relationship between the number and rights of low-skilled migrant workers in high-income countries. It identifies a trade-off: Countries with large numbers of low-skilled migrant workers offer them relatively few rights, while smaller numbers of migrants are typically associated with more rights. We discuss the number-vs.-ri...

The design of labour immigration policy requires nation states to make fundamental decisions on how to regulate: (i) the number of migrants to be admitted; (ii) the selection of migrants; and, (iii) the rights of migrants after admission. In practice, the debate over these three elements of immigration policy involves a wide range of economic, soci...

Following an earlier report on these migrants' experiences at work, this study explores their access to information, advice and English classes, their accommodation, leisure time, social contact with British people and long-term intentions. The relationship between migrants and other residents has come under the spotlight in recent debates on 'inte...

This paper explores the nature and determinants of illegality in migrant labour markets. It conceptualises the various "spaces of (il)legality" in the employment of migrants, and explores the perceptions and functions of these spaces from the points of view of migrants, employers and the state. Our theoretical approach goes beyond the notion that i...

On 1st May 2004, ten new states - including the "A8" countries in Central and Eastern Europe - joined the European Union (EU). This paper explores the impact of EU

This paper explores the nature of staff shortages in the UK's hospitality sector, with a focus on the role of migrant workers in meeting and shaping employer demand for labour. Drawing on data from in-depth and survey interviews, we explore the key competencies, personal attributes and employment relations that hospitality employers demand from the...

This report explores the experiences beyond the workplace of migrants from East and Central Europe working in low wage jobs. Following an earlier report on these migrants' experiences at work, this study explores their access to information, advice and English classes, their accommodation, leisure time, social contact with British people and long-t...

Discussions of "illegality" in the employment of migrant workers are typically based on a "legal/illegal" dichotomy that conflates breaches of rights of residence and rights of employment. This paper aims to facilitate a more nuanced discussion by introducing the new concept of "compliance." We identify and distinguish between three levels of compl...

This paper explores the potential of temporary migration programmes (TMPs) as a means of helping to manage international labour migration in a way that is both practical and sensitive to the interests of all sides involved. More specifically, the paper discusses whether and how TMPs can (a) help high-income countries to meet their labour market nee...

This article examines the key ethical questions in the design of labor immigration programs. We propose a two-dimensional matrix of ethical space that isolates a number of different ethical frameworks on the basis of the degree of consequentialism they allow and the moral standing they accord to noncitizens. We argue for the rejection of extreme et...

This article examines the key ethical questions in the design of labor immigration programs. We propose a two-dimensional matrix of ethical space that isolates a number of different ethical frameworks on the basis of the degree of consequentialism they allow and the moral standing they accord to noncitizens. We argue for the rejection of extreme et...

This paper explores the nature of the persistent "labor and skills shortages" reported in the UK's hospitality sector, with a focus on the role of migrant workers in meeting and shaping employer demand for labor. We argue that, to better understand and evaluate claims of occupational/sectoral staff shortages, it is necessary to study their micro- f...

Este informe es parte de un serie de publicaciones que presentan una agenda de datos y análisis sobre un tema en particular, con la finalidad de llamar la atención internacional para enfocarse en cuestiones y opciones políticas que pongan a las personas en el centro de las estrategias, con el objetivo de afrontar los retos de desarrollo en la actua...