abstract: 'PurposeThis study examines Covid-19-related policies as a showcase for

  priorities in migration governance, the role of the state and employers''

  associations, as well as gaps in social security and social

  protection.Design/methodology/approachThis paper looks at how

  immigration interacts with the labour market in the Czech Republic

  through the prism of the varieties of capitalism framework and its

  relation to the concepts of labour market segmentation and

  flexibility.FindingsThe findings show that pandemic-related measures

  focused on continuously adjusting a legislative framework granting

  access to third-country workers. However, protective measures that would

  guarantee migrant workers and their families access to social rights,

  such as healthcare, were lacking. In this context, several lines of

  segmentation are observed: between migrant workers in standard

  employment and those in non-standard employment, when looking at their

  access to healthcare; between migrants hired directly by employers and

  those working through temporary agencies in terms of their wages,

  stability and protection; and, at a sectoral level, between the skilled

  workforce and migrants that are pushed to low-qualified poorly paid, and

  routinised jobs.Originality/valueThis paper expands the existing

  literature on the preferences and influence of governments, employers

  and trade unions regarding the demand for foreign labour in varieties of

  capitalism by adding the perspective of a Central European economic

  model. At the same time, its findings contribute to the understanding

  that labour market inequalities are not fostered on the supply side of

  migrant labour, through exogenous societal or cultural characteristics

  specific to countries of origin, but rather through institutionalised

  measures, practices and policies in countries of destination.'
affiliation: 'Gheorghiev, O (Corresponding Author), Czech Acad Sci, Dept Gender \&
  Sociol, Inst Sociol, Prague, Czech Republic.

  Gheorghiev, Olga, Czech Acad Sci, Dept Gender \& Sociol, Inst Sociol, Prague, Czech
  Republic.'
author: Gheorghiev, Olga
author-email: olga.gheorghiev@soc.cas.cz
author_list:
- family: Gheorghiev
  given: Olga
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1108/IJSSP-06-2022-0162
earlyaccessdate: APR 2023
eissn: 1758-6720
files: []
issn: 0144-333X
journal: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL POLICY
keywords: Labour migration; Covid-19; Healthcare; Migration policies
keywords-plus: 'EUROPEAN INDUSTRIAL-RELATIONS; MIGRATION; CAPITALISM; VARIETIES; CRISIS;

  POLICY'
language: English
month: APR 24
number: 3/4, SI
number-of-cited-references: '41'
orcid-numbers: Gheorghiev, Olga/0000-0003-0659-3057
pages: 370-383
papis_id: c7a655f65dbd7a2f49fa52d867d66576
ref: Gheorghiev2023economicmigrants
times-cited: '0'
title: 'Economic migrants in the Czech segmented labour market: Covid-19 as a magnifying
  glass'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000960634900001
usage-count-last-180-days: '9'
usage-count-since-2013: '9'
volume: '43'
web-of-science-categories: Sociology
year: '2023'