Queirós, J. (2019). Working Class Condition and Migrant Experience: The Case of Portuguese Construction Workers. In: Pereira, C., Azevedo, J. (eds) New and Old Routes of Portuguese Emigration. IMISCOE Research Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15134-8_8
Abstract: This chapter presents results of fieldwork-based research on the professional, geographical and social mobility strategies adopted in recent years by construction workers emigrating from Northwest Portugal. Considering the impacts of the economic crisis that has affected Portugal throughout this period – impacts which included a sharp rise in unemployment rates and the reconfiguration of the professional aspirations and career trajectories of thousands of workers, especially in industrial and post-industrial areas –, this text analyses some of the findings of multi-sited ethnographic research conducted in Portugal, Spain and France between 2008 and 2014. The chapter briefly discusses the recent change in the condition of Portuguese construction workers, underlines the constitution and reinforcement of migration as a central element of this group’s professional and social reproduction strategies, and scrutinises the most salient aspects of the everyday experience of these true contemporary “nomads”.