Labour Market Integration as an Interactive Process

This chapter presents the analytical framework of this volume, arguing that an interpretive-biographical methodology for analysing labour market integration can highlight the many ways in which migrants exercise agency both materially in shaping their lives but also cognitively and emotionally in making sense of what is happening to them, taking decisions and following specific courses of action. The chapter introduces the notion of turning points and epiphanies as a new approach to labour market integration that goes beyond ticking boxes of who has a job. It also looks into the employment trajectories of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. After elaborating on the interpretive biographical methodology and its tools, this chapter briefly outlines the contents of this volume.