A time for action: perceptions of European workers in the UK and British workers in Continental Europe during Covid-19 at the time of Brexit

Abstract

This paper details a project which collected the voices of European and British citizens living in the precarity of Covid-19 and Brexit. We aimed to explore the challenges they faced in both their employment and day to day lives. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, there are increasing calls for
new approaches to government and local policies which unleash the benefits that migrants, refugees and asylum seekers bring. It is recognised that affective/identity dimensions are susceptible to socio-economic and political shifts (Zontini and Genova, 2022). Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees tend, for a variety of reasons, to be less successful in host country labour markets than natives. There has been increased interest in the experience of migrants in the UK and Europe. Although literature has given attention to a variety of topics from enablers and barriers to integration in the labour market at policy level, scant attention has been given to the stories of migrants, their sense of identity, their role and agency in shaping their life and policy (D’Angelo et al., 2021). The lives of British citizens in Europe and EU citizens in the UK are becoming more precarious and challenging after Brexit and Covid-19. We explored their challenges, in both their employment and in their everyday lives. Our narrative account of self provides an ongoing stream of sense-making (Brown, 2006) into which they fit their selective perceptions of new experiences (Sims, 2005). To do this we conducted an audio survey with open ended questions with 26 EU and British citizens.

Rights

This content is not covered by the Open Government Licence. Please see source record or item for information on rights and permissions.

Cite as

Downloadable citations

Identifiers

Repository URI

https://uws.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/8b057674-1502-4223-aabd-1238a0095aa4