MIGRANT CONSTRUCTION WORKERS' TACTICS TO COPE WITH UNEMPLOYMENT DURING THE CRISIS : CASE STUDY ON ALBANIAN IMMIGRANTS IN MILAN AND ATHENS

This dissertation presents a comparative study of Albanian migrant construction workers in Italy and Greece. Using qualitative research methods, it explores the coping practices of first-generation Albanian migrants employed in the residential construction in Milan and Athens during the recent financial crisis. More specifically, this study focuses on the responses adopted by Albanian builders and their households to cope with high rates of unemployment in construction in both contexts. The research started on March 2015 and involved 16 months of fieldwork in Milan, Athens and Albania, where I mainly interviewed three categories of informants: workers, trade unionists and labour inspectors. The two case studies have mainly concentrated on three different aspects. First, the dissertation analysed the factors that ensure continuity in building trades, that is how Albanian migrants continue to get a job in residential construction. Second, it put emphasis on migrants’ engagement in informal employment to understand whether and when such engagement may constitute an active response to cope with high unemployment rates. Third, beyond males' occupation in construction, it explored practices that migrants and their households developed in order to cope with crisis during the crisis.