Undocumented workers

Definition/short description

An undocumented worker is a labourer who is illegally employed or employed violating the employment and/or immigration laws of the host country. In most western countries, both citizens and immigrants must adhere to specific laws and regulations. In most cases, such laws require a document to certify the legality of the worker. Such documents may include a working permit, some sort of social security number, or a working visa.

In depth

An undocumented worker is a person who is (usually) illegally employed and does not formally contribute to its society by paying taxes. These people are often in desperate situations and agree to perform a cetain function for their employer at a lower wage than normal. The documentation of such worker is then concealed, or simply not issued, by the employer and the employee in order for neither of them to pay for the expenses associated with employment.

Although sometimes workers will intentionally seek an undocumented job, the phenomenon is rare since the benefits are often outweighed by the losses. In the United States and most other Western countries, a worker is entitled to very specific rights when on the workplace and medical expenses are covered by the employer in case of any accident or injury on the workplace. Denying their rightful legal status as workers, undocumented workers are not often considered subject to these conventions and regulations by their employer.

Undocumented workers do not necessarily have to be illegal aliens. They might have been able to legally enter the country or already be citizens of that country. However, this is often not the case. Many undocumented workers have also entered their host country illegally at great risk and usually at great expense. Sometimes, such immigrants are exposed to dangers as they may end up being trafficked for exploitation or tricked into slavery or indecent jobs. This is often accentuated by the fact that such workers usually do not hold a high level of education and are considered low-skilled labour. Sexual slavery is considered to be one of the most pressing issues regarding illegal migration and slavery.

The relevance of Undocumented workers for Migration and/or Migration Policy

The relevance of illegal workers in mostly migrant-receiving countries has been subject of constant debate among social scientists since the end of World War II. Two main questions arise from analyzing the relevance of undocumented workers in Migration and Migration Policy.

How can a country fend its borders to prevent illegal immigration resulting in undocumented workers?

How can a country deal with those undocumented workers who already have a place in society?

Both questions have been answered considering all political and ideological dispositions but the problem at large is often recognized to be the fact that undocumented workers and their employers do not make any tangible contribution to the running and maintenance of their host society and community and. Also, undocumented workers can be cause of discrepancies in national surveys such as unemployment rate and the index of the standard of living.

Some countries, such as the United States, have decided to answer the first dilemma by tightly limiting and controlling the migratory flows from its neighbouring countries (Mexico and other Central-American and Carribbean countries) by devoting considerable funds to border control and by building an iron fence on some of its adjacent territories with Mexico. Countries with a negative outlook on migration also usually make the process of worker's legalization a gruelling and time-consuming process in order to discourage migration and narrow the migration flow.

Others countries, such as those of the European Union and the United Kingdom, have more accepting policies towards migrants and thus easier mechanism of worker legalization. This ideology holds migration in a more positive light than the first one, and has carefully considered the benefits that undocumented workers would be able to offer to be possibly more beneficial than it is a drain on national resources.

Examples

Example: Reason Lots of undocumented workers flee to other countries because of different reasons. This can be because of war in their own country whereby they have to leave or run for asylum, to get an education and or because they try to escape from a corrupted government. The majority of people that migrate to other countries are in search of work and flee their own because of poverty in their own country. You see they are a lot of reason why many people are try to enter many countries.

Example: unregistered migrants People that are not registered by the government and by the social security department or by the tax office department as a civil worker are at risk of being fined for working illegal in the country. Why is that you will like to know the reason is because. Undocumented workers do not pay tax, which also means they will not be able to build a pension from the government these illegal workers get pay crash in their hand. What is the risk if you got injured on the job the companies will not cover your injury and will denied that you were working there at the job site meaning you will have to pay your owned bill from the doctor or the hospital because you were not insured by the company

Sources, further reading, links

• Undocumented workers
• undocumented worker
• Author, source 3 book title, edition, publisher, year, ISBN

Related Educational Pages

• immigrants
• social security