Local labour market segmentation and migrant workers’ experiences: The case of the hotel industry in Venice

Abstract

Using Venice as a case study, this article seeks to analyse the experience of migrant workers in the hotel industry through a theoretical engagement with the local labour market segmentation approach. The global hotel industry relies on large numbers of migrant workers, who are often in their first job in the host context, as a solution to the problem of cyclical staff shortages. Previous studies have found that low barriers to entry into the sector and high staff turnover are the underlying reasons for this relationship. They have also shown that the same characteristics that make the hotel sector attractive to migrant workers also lead them to leave the industry shortly after entering it. However, this article reveals significant stability in the careers of migrants employed in Venetian hotels as well as heterogeneity in their individual experiences. Through identifying and analysing the factors underpinning the trajectories of these workers, the article emphasises the importance of local characteristics of production, consumption, institutional and welfare regulation patterns, workers’ social stratifications and strategies of social reproduction in shaping the relation between migrant workers and the local hotel industry.